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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26131099">A Boy and a Girl</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/PixChuu22/pseuds/PixChuu22'>PixChuu22</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Lucifer (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Rewrite, Devil Face (Lucifer TV), Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV) Devil Reveal, Misunderstandings, Murder, Post-Devil Face Reveal to Chloe Decker, Post-Season/Series 03, Slow Burn, Soulmates, very slow burn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 09:28:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>51,960</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26131099</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/PixChuu22/pseuds/PixChuu22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>God created Lucifer, knowing exactly what his son would do throughout his entire existence and how Lucifer would be his own worst enemy. He knew that Lucifer would need someone to balance him and accept him for who he was. To that end, He created Chloe Decker. If only the two of them would stop being so foolish and get on with completing His divine plan.</p><p>Takes place at the end of s3e24 (A Devil of My Word).</p><p>Note: I wrote this fanfic before season 5 dropped. I spent much of s5A screaming at the TV when I saw plot points that I had written about just weeks before being mirrored in the series' exploration of the characters. I'm beginning to think I should make monetary bets on the plot points in s5B and s6, because I might make good money.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Amenadiel/Linda Martin (Lucifer TV), Chloe Decker/Lucifer Morningstar, Eve &amp; Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV), Eve/Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV), Mazikeen &amp; Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>311</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>593</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prelude</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>This is the story of how I gave my son everything he could ever want, and how he rejected it out of hand.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Of course, I knew he would, being omniscient. I created him, after all, and knew his every inclination long before they occurred to him because I settled them into him like I settled brilliant suns above billions of skies.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He is what he must be, and his story follows a path utterly unsurprising to me…though, perhaps, not to him.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>His greatest and chiefest desire has always been one of acceptance. He wanted to be seen for himself and accepted all the way down to his core. To that end, I created someone to be his match and his foil, a lifemate and a challenger, someone to both accept him and to push him ever to be better.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I suppose, at the heart of it, his story must begin thus:</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Once, there was a boy and there was a girl…</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. In All the Mess</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Awareness seeped back into Chloe Decker’s mind in small, individual pieces, like the unpredictable rainbow of colors in a kaleidoscope. She felt the heat of the sun on her face before her eyes recognized the brightness. She heard the thrumming repetition of a low drum beat at her ear and only understood it to be a heartbeat after she felt the fumble of fingers at her collarbone, the sensation muted by the bulletproof vest under her clothes. Not the usual accoutrement one would wear, not even for a police detective, but an undeniably useful one today.</p>
<p>The fingertips touched her chest, right above the spot that she was dimly aware <em>hurt</em>, and somehow, she knew it was Lucifer Morningstar, her friend and partner, awash in fear…for <em>her</em>.</p>
<p>Reality popped around her like the ending of a soap bubble, the rainbow blur of her temporary unconsciousness giving way all at once to the world around her, and she knew what was going on, even if the ‘where’ of the goings-on was a bit unsure.</p>
<p>Pierce’s man had shot her. He had <em>shot</em> her. True, she’d just put a bullet in his boss, so the thug’s reaction had been completely predictable and expected…hence the vest that Lucifer was now fumbling at.</p>
<p>She raised one hand to touch his, stilling his scrabbling as she pulled the collar of her shirt down to reveal the black Kevlar beneath. Her eyes opened but didn’t seem to know exactly how to do their job yet, Lucifer’s face above her appearing hazy and indistinct despite the bright sunlight beating down on them. Slowly, his beautiful features sharpened in her gaze, the concern in his dark eyes melting into relief as she whispered, “What happened?”</p>
<p>Such a small question for such a big problem. What had happened with Lieutenant Marcus Pierce, her one-time fiancé and the criminal mastermind known as the Sinnerman? What has happened to get them out of that marble-floored and -pillared warehouse of statuary and valuable artworks?</p>
<p>“You’re safe. That’s all that matters,” Lucifer said, and Chloe could feel the truth of his words somehow. <em>He</em> thought that her safety <em>was</em> all that mattered. But how the hell could she <em>feel</em> his emotions? Maybe some kind of lingering trauma reaction to being shot, making her think that her own feelings were his…</p>
<p>Chloe mentally shook free of her thoughts, pushing away from Lucifer physically as she also pushed the awareness of his emotions away mentally, forcing herself out of his cradling embrace to sit up.</p>
<p>“We need to find Pierce,” she said, slowly leaning forward over her legs. The vest had kept the bullet from being fatal, but the left side of her upper chest felt like a massive bruise was waiting to blossom into livid life. Damn, but that <em>hurt…</em></p>
<p>And…was she on a <em>rooftop?</em> How had they ended up on a rooftop high above the city below?</p>
<p>She was so distracted by the pain and her slow return to full functionality after nearly being killed that she didn’t realize what was happening until she heard a rustling, fluttering sound and turned to find Lucifer was gone. She twisted, despite the discomfort that radiated out from the contusion on her chest, and cast her gaze around the empty, grey concrete roof, seeing no sign of her strange and unpredictable partner. Very faintly, she felt a pulse of determination that was absolutely <em>not</em> hers, but then even that strange sensation faded and she was really, fully alone on a rooftop high above LA.</p>
<p>Chloe groaned, letting her head fall limply forward. Of course, she was alone. Even after she’d been <em>shot</em>, she could hardly rely on Lucifer to stay at her side.</p>
<p>Especially with Pierce still at large. She’d had to intervene before when Lucifer had drifted too close to vigilante justice in previous cases that he’d assisted her on, and none of those criminals would hold a candle to all that Pierce had done to both her and Lucifer. She needed to get back to the storage building they’d been led to by a false lead, preferably before Lucifer did something unforgivably illegal.</p>
<p>Chloe pushed to her feet carefully as her phone trilled from the back pocket of her pants. She fished it out and checked the screen, relieved to see her ex-husband’s name. Dan Espinoza had been assisting on the Sinnerman/Pierce investigation – had, in fact, been the first one to connect the dots, bringing it to her attention.</p>
<p>She raised the phone to her ear, doing away with basic pleasantries by skipping the ‘hello’ entirely.</p>
<p>“Dan?”</p>
<p>“Hey, Chloe!” His voice was tense, sharper than normal, and she felt her body tighten in response to his tone. “It’s a trap.”</p>
<p>“I know, I know,” she replied on a defeated sigh, shifting unhappily from foot to foot. “We had to find out the hard way. Pierce…he tried to kill us.”</p>
<p>“What?! Are you okay?” She didn’t miss the shocked horror in Dan’s voice, and she hastened to reassure him.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I am. I don’t know how, but I am.” She cast an unhappy glance around the rooftop, feeling the lie in her words. Her throat tightened as she thought about the impossibility of going from a room full of thugs with guns to a rooftop overlooking downtown LA in the space of only a few minutes, the unreality of Lucifer going from cradling her in his arms to gone without a trace from a wide open rooftop in the time it took her to lean forward. Her voice was broken and shaking as she spoke again. “Or maybe I <em>do</em> know. Maybe I’ve been avoiding the biggest truth this whole –”</p>
<p>The <em>pop-pop-pop</em> of distance gunfire cut her off, choking the words in her throat as the terror of awareness filled her. Lucifer had gone to find Pierce…and from the sound of things, he had achieved that goal.</p>
<p>She was going to be too late. No matter how fast she moved, no matter how quickly she made it back downstairs to that awful room of marble and precious art, she was going to be too late to change anything. She was going to find a body.</p>
<p>“I have to go,” she breathed, lowering her cellphone as she stared across the open expanse of the barren concrete roof, not even hearing Dan’s frantic words as her thumb drifted down to disconnect the call.</p>
<p>She was in motion, the clatter of her ankle boots across the roof almost as loud as her own heartbeat in her ears. Her arms pumped at her sides, lending her speed as she rushed to the roof access door on the far side of the rooftop, already trying to think of a Plan B if the door wouldn’t open.</p>
<p>She was relieved to find the roof access door unlocked and she rushed through it, barely hearing the pneumatic wheeze as it began to automatically drift shut behind her. She took the stairs down from the roof level two at a time, nearly twisting her ankle in her haste.</p>
<p>She pelted down the hall beyond, her steps muffled on the plush carpet. An elevator waited at the far end of the hall, and while there was a strong desire to take the stairs to be in motion and <em>doing</em> something, she knew the elevator would be the faster and safer option. The ankle she’d almost twisted in her mad rush down the roof access stairs was still aching faintly with each running step.</p>
<p>She pushed the elevator call button and then pressed it again and again, dancing from foot to foot in her impatience.</p>
<p>“Come on, come <em>on</em>,” she whispered, jabbing the button repeatedly.</p>
<p>The soft chime of the elevator’s arrival made her draw her service weapon from her hip holster. She was not alone in the building, and if there <em>was</em> someone in the elevator, it was unlikely they were a friend.</p>
<p>But the doors opened to an empty car, and Chloe leaped in, spinning towards the control panel as soon as her feet touched down, jabbing the button for the ground floor with the same impatient tempo that she’d used when summoning the elevator.</p>
<p>The slow rumble of the elevator’s descent made Chloe almost dance in place, her impatience overwhelming her. As the elevator descended from floor to floor, though, the impatience slowly became tinged with burning anger and a deep and righteous feeling of justice served.</p>
<p>“What?” Chloe rubbed at her forehead with the hand not holding her gun, confused by the strange emotions swirling through her mind. When had she <em>ever</em> felt like that before? In what circumstance would she ever have cause to feel anything like it? Rushing down to find out who had died was certainly not the time to feel like justice had been served, and while she was definitely unhappy with the situation, she didn’t feel <em>angry</em>…except she apparently did. She <em>was</em> feeling anger, for sure, even if she didn’t actually <em>feel</em> angry.</p>
<p>The elevator chimed softly as it reached the ground floor and Chloe pushed away the confusion and the alien anger as she doors swept open. She rushed down the hall towards the sun brightened front entryway where she and Lucifer had been ambushed only minutes before, the sound of dark laughter ahead spurring her to greater speed. That was <em>not</em> Lucifer’s laugh. Oh, God, what if she was too late?</p>
<p>She was rushing down the huge imperial staircase even as she was taking in the carnage in the room below: bodies and chips of marble and wood littered the round atrium, but she only had eyes for Lucifer.</p>
<p>He was crouched beside a body, his head hanging, and her relief overwhelmed every other feeling crowding her thoughts. He was alive.</p>
<p>“Lucifer,” she said, breathing hard as she stepped down into the atrium proper. He rose to his feet slowly, still looking down at the body on the floor before him, the body she could now see was Pierce. She knew that Pierce’s death, while deserved, was going to open a huge can of worms and her face tightened as she drew her eyes off of his corpse to her slowly turning partner. “Lucifer…”</p>
<p>But it wasn’t Lucifer that turned to face her. This creature with glowing eyes the color of burning embers couldn’t be her partner and friend. Its skin was a pitted horror in shades of red, scarred and lined. It smiled, and she felt a wash of affection, joy, relief…but those were not <em>her</em> feelings.</p>
<p>The creature standing before her, though…its smile spoke of all those things. She was feeling what <em>it</em> felt.</p>
<p>It heaved a sigh, and Chloe watched in numb silence as the shoulders of Lucifer’s expensive suit rose with the sound. That monstrous face topping the rich material of Lucifer’s suit and the emotions of the thing as it gazed at Chloe’s face with its glowing ember eyes left no doubt in her mind.</p>
<p>“It’s all true,” she whispered, feeling something starting to unravel inside of her.</p>
<p>“Detective?” the thing said, and it was Lucifer’s voice coming from the black pit of its mouth, Lucifer’s relief fading to puzzled alarm inside her head as the thing gazed at her. It was <em>Lucifer</em>, not some thing. <em>Lucifer</em>.</p>
<p>“It’s all true,” she repeated, backing away in small, hesitant steps, moving until the heels of her ankle boots hit the stairs behind her.</p>
<p>She could feel his alarm and confusion rising as he took a single, slow step towards her, but she couldn’t read it on his face. That face, usually so expressive and so mutable, was unreadable to her now. All she could see was how unfamiliar and horrible this new, demonic face was.</p>
<p>The Devil. He was <em>the Devil</em>. He had never lied to her, never spoken in metaphors. He’d always been completely honest…and she’d made the mistake of thinking he wasn’t.</p>
<p>“Detective, what’s…?” He was tentative in a way he so rarely was, standing by Pierce’s body in indecision. His fear hit her in a concentrated wave, blending with hers in a moiling maelstrom that threatened to take her feet out from under her. She swayed and Lucifer moved forward several quick steps to help her, his hands rising from his sides to reach towards her.</p>
<p>“Stop!” Her voice was sharp with her fear, and he stopped at once, the soles of his shiny black loafers scuffing against the debris-littered floor. “Y-you need to go.”</p>
<p>Her words hurt him. The fresh wave of betrayed pain rose in him and hit her with bruising force. How was he <em>doing</em> this? Was it because of his face? Could he do this any time he revealed his true face?</p>
<p>“Detective, I don’t under –”</p>
<p>“Your face!” Chloe choked out, the words ragged and gasping as she tried to breathe through his pain and her fear.</p>
<p>He raised a single long-fingered hand, still deceptively human in appearance, and brushed it across the rough contours of his face. She did not miss the widening of his eyes that accompanied the sharp spike of his alarm in her head.</p>
<p>He spun away, giving her his back, but the roughened red skin covered the back of his head, too, replacing his dark and neatly trimmed hair in harsh ripples of twisted flesh.</p>
<p>“I have to call this in. Pierce, these bodies…I h-have to call it in,” Chloe said, fighting to keep her voice even. “I can protect you from the circus that’s going to follow this, but only if you go.”</p>
<p>“But, Detective,” he began, half turning towards her and revealing the side of his face and a single glowing eye.</p>
<p>“<em>Just go!”</em> The words came out in a sobbing scream, torn from her by terror and confusion and her own deep shame at not having realized sooner, not having believed what he had told her over and over again.</p>
<p>Lucifer’s alarm spiked in her head, replaced slowly but inexorably by shame and self-loathing that twisted her stomach inside of her with their intensity. She wanted to reach out to him, but the alienness of his face kept her hands at her sides, shaking as she sucked in sobbing breaths.</p>
<p>“Of course,” he said, Lucifer’s familiar soft voice coming from the twisted malformation of a face. “Of course, Detective.”</p>
<p>He turned away once again and moved with his usual smooth grace into the tangle of art and statuary, weaving between objects until he was lost from sight down the hallway through which they had first come less than an hour before. Chloe stood, shaking and gasping, as slowly his emotions faded from her head, leaving only her own maelstrom of shock, confusion, and fear behind.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>Hours passed, and Chloe was still at the downtown building where Pierce had lured them to what he had hoped would be Lucifer’s death. Officers had come, their expressions suspicious and doubtful. Crime scene techs had come, although Ella Lopez had not been among them. Chloe could’ve used her friend and forensic scientist just then, but Ella had been helping Dan keep hold of one of Pierce’s men last Chloe had heard, and she imagined the two of them would have their hands full for a while longer.</p>
<p>Chloe had not been surprised when Internal Affairs had shown up. Marcus Pierce was part of the force, after all, and Chloe’s story about finding out he was the Sinnerman and tracking him to the building of priceless artworks was a wild one, especially when she’d had to get creative with her explanation of events. After all, techs would easily be able to match the bullet in Pierce’s abdomen to her service weapon, and while her shot hadn’t been fatal, it definitely didn’t paint her in a good light.</p>
<p>The best, simplest story was that she had followed clues to the building, shot Pierce when he drew on her, and then dived for cover when an apparent battle broke out between Pierce and his underlings. She hadn’t seen who had killed him, and with everyone else dead or unconscious, there was no one to gainsay her story. The techs still took samples from her hands, scraping under her nails and along her hands to check for gunpowder to confirm her story.</p>
<p>It was a relief when the Internal Affairs agent who had introduced himself as Agent Jonas a couple of hours before finally approached Chloe a second time. She’d been sitting on the last couple of steps of the imperial staircase for the past hour, watching with exhausted eyes as the uniformed officers and the crime scene techs had moved around the room. Agent Jonas gave her a narrow-lipped smile that looked more like a grimace as he stopped in front of her, and Chloe forced herself to sit up and face him.</p>
<p>“Agent,” she said, nodding.</p>
<p>“Detective Decker, it’s the opinion of IA that you should be put on administrative leave pending a full investigation into the murder of Lieutenant Marcus Pierce,” Jonas said, reaching up to tighten his tie slightly as his eyes skimmed over her face without ever really settling on her. “You will, of course, continue to receive pay and all your benefits. Try to think of it as a vacation while we sort out this mess. I will want all the research you have into your claims that Lieutenant Pierce was this ‘Sinnerman,’ as you said. You will need to turn in your badge and gun and leave any and all files pertaining to that case with the acting-Lieutenant back at the station.”</p>
<p>“Of course,” Chloe said, not even trying to raise an argument in her defense. Administrative leave was exactly what she had expected, after all. A police Lieutenant had been murdered and she was the only living person on scene. She was lucky she wasn’t being arrested while they processed the crime scene.</p>
<p>“Also, can you explain the number of feathers on scene?” Jonas asked, his gaze finally sharpening as he focused on her suddenly.</p>
<p>Chloe opened her mouth, looking around at the destruction that littered the polished marble floor of the atrium. Somehow, she had completely overlooked the chunks of feathers that lay side-by-side with the chunks of debris from the destroyed statuary and art. The feathers were enormous, even in their destroyed and piecemeal state, glimmering white with streaks of drying blood on them. Where the hell could they have come from? Unless…but, no, she had seen his Devil face. There was no way a creature like <em>that</em> could have wings like an angel, no matter that he had been one once upon a time.</p>
<p>“I…I don’t know,” she confessed, puzzled. “I hadn’t really noticed them in all the mess.”</p>
<p>“Hmm,” Jonas said, his lips pinching as his gaze slid off of her and went vague and unfocused again. “The techs are trying to match them to something in the room, some piece of artwork…but they’re having trouble. I suppose it’s a problem for the techs and not you, though. They’ll find it eventually, I’m sure. Dismissed, Detective.”</p>
<p>Chloe rose to her feet slowly, her entire body aching like a bruise despite the fact that she hadn’t taken any injury that day besides the bullet to her Kevlar vest. She crept past Agent Jonas, skirting the edges of the room as she moved past the diligently working crime scene techs and the openly hostile stares of the unis.</p>
<p>One fell into step just behind her, following her all the way to the exit in grim, judgmental silence. It was an unspeakable relief to leave the building behind and head for her car.</p>
<p>She dug her cell out of her back pocket as soon as she was a few steps away from the building, pulling up her list of missed calls. There were eight calls listed, all from Dan’s cellphone, and she called him back as she made her way down the street towards her parked vehicle.</p>
<p>“Chloe?” Dan sounded panicked, and she quickly filled him in on the details that were pertinent: Pierce was dead. IA was involved. She was on administrative leave.</p>
<p>When she finished talking, there was a long silence before Dan finally whispered, “I can’t believe it.”</p>
<p>“Which part?” she asked, sliding into the front seat of her car and grimacing at the sweltering heat inside. She got the engine running and cranked the air conditioner as high as it would go, hoping the moving air would help cool the car down even if the temperature coming from the vents was still Saharan.</p>
<p>“Any of it. All of it. What are you going to do?”</p>
<p>“Turn in my badge and gun. Go home and take a nap.”</p>
<p>“Chloe, I’m serious,” Dan started, but she cut him off.</p>
<p>“So am I! And, Dan, you have to turn in Charlotte’s files on Pierce. IA wants them. I’ll swing by Lux to pick them up, but then I want you and Ella as far away from this case as you can get. Don’t get involved. Don’t say anything to IA. You don’t need to be pulled into this, okay? Neither one of you.”</p>
<p>“But I’m the one who started this manhunt, and I’m not going to let you go down for this alone!” Dan snapped.</p>
<p>“I get it,” Chloe soothed, leaning back in the car seat and closing her eyes, raising one hand to run it across her sweat-dampened brow. “But, Dan, there is <em>no reason</em> for you to get involved, okay? Let Pierce’s man go, and you and Ella get back to business as usual. I need to know you’re safe.”</p>
<p>There was a long silence as Dan fought to keep himself from arguing with Chloe, and she knew exactly how he felt. If their positions were reversed, she wouldn’t want him to take the fall alone. Finally, though, he let a long sigh slide through the phone.</p>
<p>“I hate this,” he muttered.</p>
<p>“I know. Me, too. Look, I’ll be there in a few minutes to pick up the files. Is, uh…has Lucifer shown up? I sent him away before I called everything in.”</p>
<p>“He hasn’t come back here,” Dan said, and Chloe relaxed a little.</p>
<p>“All right. I’ll see you soon.” She ended the call, buckled in, and drove away from the building that had been meant to be her tomb.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Trying to Be Okay</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lucifer was waiting inside Chloe’s apartment when she made her slow way inside several hours later. She suspected he might be there when she pulled into the apartment complex’s parking lot and felt a dim stirring of agitation. It increased as she got out of her car, eclipsing her own feelings of resigned exhaustion, growing stronger the closer she got to her apartment until it was all she could feel.</p><p>Still, she hadn’t been sure it was Lucifer’s agitation until she opened the apartment door and stepped inside.</p><p>“Welcome home, Detective.” His voice was light and cheerful, but the smile he turned on her as she came in was strained. He looked once more like himself, though, and the relief Chloe felt at seeing his familiar, beautiful face overwhelmed everything else for a few seconds. Dismay followed on its heels, though; his face was no longer the horror he had turned to her when he turned his back on Pierce’s body, and yet she was still feeling what she had to assume were his feelings. Did that mean that this new, bizarre emotional trauma around him wasn’t caused by the hideous face she’d seen? Or, at least, wasn’t caused when the face was the one he was presenting to the world? Maybe the trauma of seeing it had caused some kind of weird coping mechanism in her brain to kick in, something meant to make her more sympathetic to him by making her think she was connected to his emotions?</p><p>It didn’t matter. None of it mattered. What mattered was that it was <em>still happening</em>. Her heart sunk in her chest and she had to take a steadying breath as she shut the door behind her. She didn’t have time for this right now. She pushed the dismay down, trying to focus on the Devil in her living room.</p><p>“Lucifer! What are you doing here?” she asked, forcing her voice to normalcy despite the moiling emotions inside of her. She stepped in to drop her keys on the breakfast bar just past the apartment entryway, stopping once they were out of her hand and coming no further into the apartment. Lucifer was in the living room beyond and he moved towards her with slow, hesitant steps, obviously unsure of his welcome.</p><p>“I thought it best if I didn’t go immediately back to Lux, given how we parted. Besides, I was in no mood to see either Daniel or Cain’s thuggish henchman, both of which were fairly guaranteed had I returned to my penthouse. I might feel compelled to punish Cain’s man just on principle; better to keep my more Devilish impulses under control, wouldn’t you agree?”</p><p>Chloe shifted from foot to foot, only half listening to Lucifer as her eyes frantically searching every angle and plane of his face for any sign of the Devil she had seen hours before. She couldn’t see anything, though; it was only Lucifer, the same dark eyes, aquiline nose, and dark shadow of a beard that he had always shown to her as his face.</p><p>“So…you…you’re really…”</p><p>“The Devil,” Lucifer agreed, another falsely cheerful smile stretching his mouth.</p><p>“Everything you said was true. Maze…and Amenadiel.”</p><p>“Demon and angel, respectively,” Lucifer said jovially, shoving his hands into the pockets of his trousers and leaning back on his heels slightly as he watched her. For all his show of cheerful nonchalance, though, Chloe could feel the twisting emotions within him: fear, anger, self-recrimination, sorrow…</p><p>Or were they his emotions? Was she only projecting what she <em>hoped</em> he was feeling onto him? God, this was getting too complicated. Chloe reached up to rub ah and across her forehead, trying to soothe away the alien emotions in her mind the same way she’d soothe away a tension headache. It didn’t work.</p><p>Chloe scrambled for something else to say, something to stop Lucifer from giving her that false, saccharine smile as he stood beside her couch several feet away and didn’t attempt to approach. “The trick you do with suspects…the desire thing…”</p><p>“Something my dear old Dad gave me when He created me,” Lucifer confirmed, and Chloe’s shock overwhelmed everything else for a moment, making her reach out to grab hold of the countertop right beside her to steady herself.</p><p>Chloe couldn’t find the air to support her question, the words coming out in a whisper. “Your dad…your dad really is…” Chloe couldn’t finish the sentence, the reality of it too much for her to speak out loud.</p><p>“Mmm, yes,” Lucifer murmured, his dark brows drawing down as he took in Chloe’s unstable stance. “Are you quite all right, Detective? Are you feeling well? Is that why you came back home instead of staying at the precinct? I didn’t expect you back here for hours. I was thinking I’d put together something for dinner to surprise you, but you came in before I had a chance to even get the shopping…”</p><p>“I’m on administrative leave,” Chloe murmured, still trying to wrap her mind around <em>God</em> being a reality. “Internal Affairs have to investigate Pierce’s murder. Until they come to a decision on my role in it, I’m not allowed at the precinct.”</p><p>“Ah,” Lucifer said, and a wave of guilt smashed into Chloe like a physical blow, causing her to rock on her feet like she would have done in waist-high surf. She made a small sound in protest at the intensity of the emotion that was not hers, and didn’t miss the alarm sweeping across Lucifer’s beautiful face as he took in her obvious distress.</p><p>“I think I’m going to need some time, Lucifer,” Chloe confessed, her voice strangled.  She looked down at the toes of her ankle boots, unable to continue looking at his face any longer. Was that even <em>truly</em> his face? Which one was his real one: the Devil face she’d seen earlier or the human-seeming one he wore every day? Which one was the mask to hide what was beneath?</p><p>“Of course,” Lucifer agreed, not moving an inch.</p><p>“I just need…I need to try to understand…”</p><p>“Understand what? Perhaps I can help,” Lucifer offered, stepping towards her. As soon as he moved, though, Chloe tried to step backwards, the move instinctive. She was a cornered animal trying to escape an approaching predator. But she was already against the breakfast bar and couldn’t go any further back from him. She only managed to kick a foot into one of the stools tucked beneath the bar, making it clatter loudly. Lucifer immediately came to a stop at the sound, his dark brows furrowing as the emotions clamoring in her head grew even louder and more tangled: guilt, anger, fear, worry, guilt, confusion, self-recrimination, guilt, guilt, guilt…</p><p>“Please,” Chloe begged, one hand rising to press against her forehead, fingers clawing into her hair. It was too much. If she had been feeling such a maelstrom of emotions, it would’ve been overwhelming, but these weren’t <em>hers</em> and the effect was like being pulled into a swirling, dizzying whirlpool and drowned in a bubbling miasma with no chance of escape. Her other hand rose, shaking slightly, palm facing out towards Lucifer to caution him away. “Please, Lucifer, just leave.”</p><p>He didn’t answer her, the silence broken only by the soft tap of his shoes as he moved towards her, past her, and out the front door. It was only once the door shut behind him that Chloe brought both hands to her face, her legs going weak and letting her drop heavily to the floor, and began to sob.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>She said she wanted time. Well, time he could give her. He had all the time in the universe, after all.</p><p>The weeks passed as they usually did, but Lucifer found he took no enjoyment out of his usual distractions. He drank because it made the passage of time less jarringly difficult, but he couldn’t enjoy the flavors of even his favorite liquors. He ate when he remembered that his human-seeming needed to be fed, he slept when the exhaustion dragged him down harder than he could resist, and he avoided everyone because there was only one someone that he actually wanted to see, and she didn’t want to see him just then.</p><p>Mazikeen, his faithful demon and friend, had come to try to make peace after the first week. She had tried to kill him, so it was her responsibility to extend the proverbial olive branch. She had, in fact, partnered up with Pierce in his attempt to destroy Lucifer. It was an unsurprising move; despite being his right-hand woman, Maze was a demon and her loyalties tended to be mercurial. And Pierce, more familiarly known as Cain, the first murderer, was a persuasive man.</p><p>Once she’d gotten word of Pierce’s death, she’d come looking for Lucifer to explain herself to him. She’d found him “a disgusting, pitiful mess,” as she’d put it, and left immediately. He hadn’t minded. He found was hard to mind much at the moment.</p><p>She had checked on him every few days, despite how pitiful she might find him, but she’d stopped bothering to try and get him out of his funk after the first week. She’d stopped bringing in willing and beautiful men and women after the second week. She’d started bringing him alcohol on week three, and that had cheered them both up immensely.</p><p>It was a Tuesday when Lucifer decided he’d waited long enough for the Detective to come to grips with his Devil face. True, it had taken him a few millennia to adjust to its reality, but he’d been telling her he was the Devil since the very beginning of their partnership, and humans had such short lives, a fact that forced them to adjust to all kinds of changes rather quickly. Surely she’d had enough time to accept the truth that had been figuratively staring her in the face since they first met four years before.</p><p>Maze entered his penthouse above Lux, his exclusive piano bar and club, at 2pm with bottles of dark liquid in either hand. She stepped out of the elevator, a smile on her face that quickly dropped into a frown as she took in his appearance.</p><p>“You’ve showered,” she said, her tone suspiciously disapproving as her dark eyes roved over him, taking in the fresh suit he was nearly done getting into. “<em>And</em> you’ve fixed your hair. What’s going on?”</p><p>“<em>I’m</em> going,” he replied cheerfully, shrugging into his bespoke suit jacket and giving it a few tugs here and there to make sure it hung perfectly. “Out. To see the Detective.”</p><p>“Did Decker finally call?” Maze asked, curiosity lightening her voice slightly. She hopped onto a bar stool and cracked open one of the liquor bottles before tipping a generous measure of dark liquid into a glass and drinking the glass dry.</p><p>“No. But I’ve decided that I’ve given her enough time. Besides, how can she adjust to <em>me</em> if I’m never around?” Lucifer raised his expressive eyebrows at the demon as she poured herself a second drink.</p><p>“Sounds logical to me,” Maze said in a disinterested tone, shrugging as she stared down into the depths of her tumbler. “And it’s definitely better than watching you sit around here every day. I was getting kind of sick of watching you pout.”</p><p>“<em>Pout?</em>” Lucifer sputtered, sounding offended. “I <em>never</em> pout.”</p><p>“Sure,” Maze said on a laugh, not looking away from her drink. Lucifer huffed softly and moved quickly to the elevator that would take him to the ground floor of Lux, glaring at Maze until the closing elevator doors blocked her from view.</p><p>The drive to the Detective’s apartment felt simultaneously too short and much too long. He hadn’t ordered his thoughts at all by the time he was pulling into the parking lot at the complex, and he almost didn’t get out of his Corvette. Finally, though, he gave a soft, disgusted snarl at his behavior and fairly leaped from the vehicle. He was the King of Hell, even if he was on a long-term vacation from his Kingship, <em>and</em> he was an archangel, even if he had been cast out of the Silver City. He needed to stop acting like a besotted pre-teen and <em>get this over with</em>.</p><p>He was almost at the Detective’s front door when it opened suddenly and there she stood in the open doorway, one hand gripping tightly to the edge of the door and the other clenched into a fist at her side.</p><p>“Detective!” he said, forcing cheer into his voice. She cringed, her eyes sweeping quickly over his face before dropping down to fix on his Louboutins.</p><p><em>‘She still can’t even look at my face,’</em> he thought, his emotions roiling inside of him in waves of sickening disappointment, sorrow, and self-hatred. <em>‘No, and why should she? What can she see now except what I actually am?’</em></p><p>“Lucifer,” Chloe said, addressing the toes of his shoes. “I thought I told you I needed some time.”</p><p>“And I have given you almost three and a half weeks, Detective. I know you’re struggling with what you saw, but don’t you see that I’m still <em>me?</em> Nothing has changed, except that now you believe what I’ve always told you.”</p><p>“I know,” Chloe said, her voice pained. “I know. But…but, Lucifer, things <em>have</em> changed. I thought…I thought maybe it was just your face, but it’s not just your face. It’s…it’s still happening. It’s happening <em>right now</em>.”</p><p>“What? Detective, what is it?” Lucifer stepped closer, concern rippling through him as he began to realize she wasn’t just scared of his Devil face. There was something else at work here, something distressing her.</p><p>“I can’t…” Chloe raised her eyes, glancing around the walkway beyond them as if looking for other humans that might overhear their conversation. There was no one going by just then, but Chloe still hesitated, her grip on the edge of the door tightening until her knuckles went white with the force of it. “I…I can’t…look, just come in, okay?”</p><p>Lucifer stepped inside gladly, Chloe retreating before him as if she couldn’t bear to be close to him. He pushed the door shut behind him gently, fighting the rising waves of anger that threatened to overwhelm him. He wasn’t sure who he was angry at – himself? The Detective? His father? – but the fury was rising in him higher and higher each time she cringed away from him or failed to meet his eyes.</p><p>She retreated all the way into the living room, skirting around one arm of the couch before turning around to face him again. She was standing with the couch between them. Lucifer didn’t miss the fact that she was trying to keep herself shielded from him, and his anger spiraled yet higher. They had been partners for <em>years</em>, and he had thought so many times that perhaps they would become more…</p><p>They had shared two kisses, and he had enjoyed each one more than he had thought it was possible to enjoy something as simple as a kiss. There was something about the Detective that he couldn’t explain or understand, some drawing power that kept him coming back to her over and over despite the fact that he’d always found the men and women of Earth to be an amusing distraction, but nothing he <em>needed</em>.</p><p>But he needed Chloe.</p><p>The realization churned in him, uncomfortable and undeniable, and he found his own hands clenching into fists at his sides.</p><p>The silence between them stretched until it was uncomfortable and awkward. Chloe finally broke it, her words tumbling out too quickly. “Why are you here?”</p><p>“Because I…I wanted to see you, Detective. I just…” He stopped, unwilling to be so open and vulnerable when the Detective wouldn’t even meet his eyes. His jaw tightened as he bit back the angry words that wanted so badly to spill from him like blood from a killing wound.</p><p>“But I…” Chloe broke off, staring down at the couch cushions in front of her, taking a few shaking breaths. “I’m not ready to see you yet. I’m trying to be okay, Lucifer, but…every time you’re around, I-I can’t…”</p><p>“Because I’m the Devil?” he snapped, the anger tightening into a sharp point inside of him, driving into his heart.</p><p>“No!” The word burst from her as both of her hands came to her face, pressing on either side of her forehead as if she were trying to soothe a headache. “I mean, in part, but…but that’s not all. It’s…Lucifer, it’s like you’re in my head!”</p><p>That stopped him cold. What on <em>Earth</em> was she talking about?</p><p>“What do you mean?” he asked, fighting to keep his voice calm and measured despite the churn of emotions tumbling around inside of him.</p><p>“I can…I can feel you. Feel what you’re feeling.”</p><p>Alarm spiked through him and Chloe sucked in a sharp breath, twisting away from him slightly at the same moment as if she had been struck.</p><p>“Please,” she whispered, her blue eyes sliding up to Lucifer’s for the first time since she’d opened the front door to meet him on the walkway leading to her apartment. “I can’t…I can’t do this. It’s t-too much. Just…just leave me alone.”</p><p>Lucifer backed away from her, his emotions twisting. If she was telling the truth…but, no, projecting emotions was not a talent of his. It wasn’t a talent of <em>any</em> of his siblings. The only explanation that made any sense was that she was still upset by his Devil face, and she was trying to put him off. She was <em>lying</em> to him to try and get him to leave her alone.</p><p>His face twisted, upper lip curling as twisting coils of disgust rose to the surface of the turmoil of feelings, and Chloe made a choked sound from across the room. But he didn’t care; he left the apartment in quick, angry steps, leaving the Detective alone. It was what she wanted, after all.</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Like Santa Claus or Reincarnation</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was almost a relief when Chloe realized that it was almost time to pick her daughter, Trixie, up from school. It was as good an excuse as any to stop fixating on the conversation with Lucifer and pull herself together. She couldn’t look like she was a complete mess at 3pm on a Tuesday during school pickups, or the PTA might start gossiping about her. Not that the opinions of the PTA parents mattered much to Chloe, but it was a good excuse to wipe her eyes, blow her nose, and put on a cheerful face.</p><p>She and Trixie had barely walked in through the front door of the apartment when Chloe’s cellphone trilled with an incoming call.</p><p>“Get your things put away, Monkey,” Chloe advised, fishing her phone out as her daughter hurried to her room. A quick glance at the screen showed her that it was Dan, and she raised the phone to her ear as she dropped her keys on the breakfast bar next to the entryway. “Hey, Dan. What’s up?”</p><p>“Chlo, I wanted to give you a heads up: it looks like IA’s wrapping up the investigation. Gossip has it that they’re going to go with your explanation of events.”</p><p>“Oh. Wow.” Chloe walked around the breakfast bar to lean on the connecting counter in the kitchen, her elbows resting on the cold stone as she took in what Dan’s words meant, her eyes drifting idly across the living room, not really focusing on anything. “So…I’m going to be able to come back soon?”</p><p>“Probably by the end of the week,” Dan confirmed.</p><p>Chloe was silent, sorting through her feelings. On the one hand, she was relieved and happy to be returning to the job she loved. On the other hand, returning would mean that she would be placed in a situation of dealing with Lucifer again every day, unless she did something horribly permanent like tell him he couldn’t be her partner anymore. She wasn’t ready to do something so final. After all, she wasn’t even sure that her current issues <em>were</em> his fault. True, her unwanted glimpse into his emotions coincided with his reveal of his demonic face…but could she guarantee the blame lay with him? After all, <em>he</em> wasn’t the one feeling <em>her</em> emotions. Maybe the pressure of find out that her ex-fiancé was a crime lord had finally pushed her over the edge? Maybe she was just experiencing a really focused psychotic break and actually just needed a few months of in-patient care and lots of very strong medications.</p><p>“Chloe? Aren’t you going to say anything?” Dan sounded puzzled, and Chloe sucked in a quick breath as she realized she’d been sitting in silent wool-gathering for way too long.</p><p>“Sorry. Yes. I’m…I’m glad. It’ll be good to get back to…uh, back to work.” She’d wanted to say ‘back to normal,’ but she couldn’t see how anything could ever be <em>normal</em> again.</p><p>“There is one thing I wanted to talk to you about,” Dan said, and Chloe focused in on the call, wrapping up her meandering thoughts. He sounded hesitant, as if he were unsure how she was going to react to whatever it was he wanted to tell her.</p><p>“Sure, yeah. Anything. What is it?”</p><p>“Could you…uh, maybe not tell Lucifer you’re coming back to work?”</p><p>Chloe opened her mouth, but no sound came out. His request was just a little too close to what she’d just been thinking, and it left her feeling unspeakably guilty.</p><p>“Yeah, sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything,” Dan said, speaking quickly, obviously misinterpreting her silence. “I’m just not feeling too generous with him after everything with – with, uh…with Charlotte.” His voice had grown rough at the last, and Chloe felt sympathy swell up in her.</p><p>“Hey, Dan,” she began, her voice soft, but he cut her off.</p><p>“I’ll talk to you later, okay? I gotta go.”</p><p>The call disconnected and Chloe sighed heavily, lowering her phone to the countertop, closing her eyes. Wonderful. Dan still blamed Lucifer for the death of his girlfriend, attorney Charlotte Richards, despite the fact that it had been Marcus Pierce who’d chosen to pull the trigger of the gun that killed her. Lucifer had known that Pierce was the Sinnerman long before any of them, and had kept that information to himself. Had that ultimately led to Charlotte’s death? It was impossible to say for sure, but Dan seemed pretty damned decided on the matter.</p><p>Dan’s antagonism would not make it any easier for Chloe to deal with the new reality that she worked with the <em>literal</em> <em>Devil</em>, and was now being exposed to a front-row seat for every single emotion that wandered through his head when he was less than a couple dozen feet away from her.</p><p>Add to everything else the fact that she and Lucifer had shared a truly amazing kiss only a few weeks before, a kiss that had seemed to her to be opening up the possibility of a serious relationship for them <em>finally</em>, after four years of skating around the issue, and Chloe felt like she was about one problem away from drowning herself in a pint of Ben&amp;Jerry’s.</p><p>Chloe rubbed her hands across her forehead, heaving a sigh.</p><p>“Mommy? I’m hungry,” Trixie said, walking into the kitchen with a slight frown on her face.</p><p>Chloe straightened up, forcing a smile to her face for her daughter. “Of course, Monkey. Let’s see what we’ve got in the fridge that we can turn into dinner, okay?”</p><p>At least dinner was a problem she could handle.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Lucifer stormed into his penthouse, his anger still bubbling beneath the surface despite the hours of aimless driving that had passed between his conversation with the Detective and his return to Lux. He was just beginning to struggle out of his suit jacket, intending to make himself a very generous and very stiff drink, when he saw movement on the balcony beyond the living room. Considering his balcony was on the top floor of a rather tall building, it was unlikely to be a misplaced club hopper.</p><p>He turned, unsurprised to see his brother, Amenadiel, folding his huge, dark wings into immateriality. He was clothed once more in the garb that he wore when he was back home: a long, grey robe-like outfit that gave him ease of movement for battle while also making him look remarkably like he was wearing a dress.</p><p>Lucifer’s upper lip curled and he huffed out a breath of annoyance, turning fully to face his brother as the other angel stepped into the penthouse, a faint smile of self-gratification on his face.</p><p>“Get it out of your system,” Lucifer said, finishing the shrug out of his suit jacket and depositing it on a bar stool beside his personal bar. “You need to gloat; do it quickly. I’ve had the kind of day where I’d like to avoid delaying my path to getting <em>very</em> drunk <em>very</em> quickly.”</p><p>Amenadiel’s eyebrows drew down slightly, taking in his brother’s disgruntled expression. “I’m hardly going to gloat, Luci. I just came to make sure you knew the truth: that we angels do, in fact, have control over ourselves – like I thought.”</p><p>“Mmm,” Lucifer murmured, stepping away from the bar and towards the other angel, not mollified in the slightest at Amenadiel’s gentle tone. “I figured it out when you flew up to Heaven with Charlotte. Nice touch on that, by the way: first class ticket to the Silver City. Just as she deserved.”</p><p>“I agree,” Amenadiel said, a faint smile lightening his serious expression for a moment. The smile dropped away quickly, though, as Amenadiel stepped closer and lowered his voice slightly. “But, Lucifer, I can see you’re troubled. What’s happened?”</p><p>Lucifer paced back to his personal bar, unable to keep from moving with so much restless energy buzzing irritatingly through his body. He grabbed the nearest bottle, not even checking to see what it contained. He decanted a generous measure into a glass, hearing Amenadiel’s soft footsteps approaching from behind him.</p><p>“It’s the Detective,” Lucifer confessed. “She doesn’t want to see me. She saw my Devil face, and she’s been acting…strange ever since.”</p><p>Amenadiel’s face twisted in sympathy. “Oh, Luci, I’m so sorry. She’s scared.”</p><p>“No, it’s not that,” Lucifer said, raising his glass and draining it, enjoying the burn of the liquor as it made its way to his stomach. He poured another generous measure as he added, “Or, at least, it’s not <em>only</em> that. She’s…she’s accusing me of manipulating her emotions, changing her feelings.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“She said whenever I’m around, she feels what I feel.” Lucifer raised his tumbler and drained it in one long swallow before thumping it back to the bar top, turning away from it to give a scoffing laugh. “As if I <em>could</em> do such a thing!”</p><p>Amenadiel’s eyes went wide as he sucked in a soft breath, staring at Lucifer with disbelief writ plain across his face, his entire body going tight as if preparing for a battle.</p><p>“What?” Lucifer was instantly on alert, his gaze sharpening as he stepped away from the bar and closer to his brother. “What is it? What do you know, Amenadiel?”</p><p>“It’s…it’s impossible,” Amenadiel said, his voice soft and disbelieving. He moved a few steps closer, raising a hand as if trying to wipe Lucifer’s words from the air. “I want to make sure I’ve understood you: she says she can <em>feel</em> your emotions?”</p><p>“That’s what she claims. I assumed it might be some kind of bizarre leftover trauma from dealing with Cain and seeing my Devil face. Humans are terribly fragile, after all, although I’d always thought the Detective was made of sterner stuff. Still, the timing is horrendous.” Lucifer hesitated a moment, softening his tone a little as he explained, “We had…we shared a kiss. Here, in my penthouse. We spoke and she seemed to be accepting me. I thought things might be…progressing with her. But now <em>this</em>. She says she can’t be in the same room as me without my emotions invading her mind. If it’s true, it’s damned inconvenient.”</p><p>“Luci, no. It’s…it’s a gift,” Amenadiel said, his expression softening into one of joy.</p><p>“A gift!” Lucifer snorted out a laugh, half-turning from Amenadiel to return to his bar.</p><p>“If it’s what I suspect it is, then it’s one of Father’s rarest and most precious gifts. It’s a <em>miracle</em>. Lucifer, have you heard of soulmates?”</p><p>Lucifer gave a huff of amused disbelief, turning back to Amenadiel as a mocking smile stretched his mouth. He stared at his brother’s earnest face, shaking his head.</p><p>“Yes, of course I have. But I assumed it was another bit of human folly, like Santa Claus or reincarnation.”</p><p>“Stories often have a basis in truth, brother…and soulmates were just such a story. They were more common before the Deluge, but they were – they <em>are</em> – real. They’re souls Father created to complement one another perfectly, meant to live out their days together…”</p><p>“Sounds dreadful,” Lucifer muttered, turning away and pacing back to the waiting tumbler on the bar. “Small problem with your theory, though: I'm not human. Never have been.”</p><p>“I know that,” Amenadiel said, sounding almost offended. “That doesn't mean you can't be soulmated. Humans have souls, but we <em>are</em> souls, Luci. Angels are beings of Spirit; nothing would stop us from being a match to a human soul, should Father make it so.”</p><p>“I’m not saying I believe you, brother, but if we <em>were</em> soulmates then how would we know? You haven’t explained what brought that to mind when I told you about the Detective’s unusual trauma reaction.”</p><p>“One of the hallmarks of soulmates is an emotional bonding beyond what humans normally experience,” Amenadiel said, following Lucifer to the bar. “It allows the two separate souls to know what the other is feeling and experiencing. In some cases, they can even know one another’s thoughts. The bonding usually happens in moments of deep emotional connection…like the first time they join together.”</p><p>“’Join together’?” Lucifer repeated mockingly, raising his eyebrows high as he smirked at Amenadiel. “We <em>are</em> in the 21<sup>st</sup> century, brother. You can say ‘sex,’ you know.”</p><p>“So, you and Chloe –”</p><p>“No, I’m afraid we haven’t had that particular pleasure,” Lucifer said pleasantly, his sharp smile more of a snarl.</p><p>“Then how…” Amenadiel paused, thinking, and then gave Lucifer a focused, intense look. His voice had taken on a tone of urgency when he next spoke. “The bond can also mature in moments of great emotional trauma or danger, especially if one of the pair is mortally threatened.”</p><p>Lucifer froze, staring at nothing, his eyes wide and horrified as suspicion rose in him.</p><p>“Luci?” Amenadiel prompted gently, reaching out to rest a hand on his brother’s shoulder.</p><p>“She’d been shot,” Lucifer whispered, his words almost inaudible despite how close the two archangels stood to one another. “We were confronting Cain and one of his lackeys shot her. The shock of it knocked her temporarily unconscious, but I thought she…that I’d caused…and then they fired on us. A half-dozen humans with guns began hailing us with bullets and I had to shield us with my wings as I held what I thought was her dying body in my arms.”</p><p>The words brought the moment back to Lucifer’s mind in stark clarity, the Detective’s unconscious body weighing his arms down as panicked futility washed over him in a wave, the knowledge that Cain had written her off as soon as she put a bullet in him and was going to let her die if he could take Lucifer out of the world along with her and that Lucifer <em>couldn’t stop it.</em> He’d pulled his wings from immateriality in a desperate bid, using them as a living shield as he cradled the Detective to his chest, aware that he was as vulnerable to the bullets raining down on them as she was, thanks to her proximity, but not willing to move her even an inch away from him. If they were going to die, let it be with her held tight to his chest.</p><p>Amenadiel’s face crumpled. “Oh, Luci…I’m so sorry.” His voice was choked with sorrow and the hand resting on Lucifer’s shoulder squeezed gently, offering what little comfort he could. “But don’t you see? That was when you finalized your half of the bond. You reached for her when you thought she was being taken from you, and you connected to her.”</p><p>“Then why is it that only <em>she</em> can sense emotions?” Lucifer demanded. “I can’t feel anything from her when we’re together. I have to <em>guess</em> at her emotions, as I always have.”</p><p>“Because the bond isn’t complete,” Amenadiel explained. “You said yourself that she was unconscious; her half of the bond couldn’t have been completed.”</p><p>“Lovely!” Lucifer snapped. “So, what am I supposed to do now?”</p><p>“Complete the bond?” Amenadiel suggested. Lucifer huffed out a frustrated breath and shrugged Amenadiel’s hand from his shoulder, reaching to pour himself a third drink.</p><p>“Are you suggesting I bed the Detective when she can’t even bear to be in the same room as me?” Lucifer asked.</p><p>“That does pose a problem,” Amenadiel admitted mildly. He straightened up abruptly, his expression going serious. “I will do everything in my power to help you. I will stay here as long as you need –”</p><p>“Brother,” Lucifer said, his voice gentling as he met Amenadiel’s eyes. “Go home. Go back to where you want to be. You’ve been invaluable, but there’s nothing more you can do here.”</p><p>Amenadiel frowned heavily, but Lucifer was turning away from his brother, returning to the business of getting as much alcohol into his body in as little time as possible, dismissing Amenadiel from his attention. The next time it occurred to Lucifer to look around for the other archangel, he was gone.</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Uniquely Positioned</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Chloe stepped into the bullpen, feeling oddly awkward after the weeks away. She didn’t fail to catch all the surreptitious glances the other detectives and uniformed officers were sending her way. It seemed like the looks were evenly divided between those happy to see her and those who openly scowled at her, but at least she didn’t feel the same level of hostility that had followed her after Palmetto.</p><p>“Detective Decker.”</p><p>Chloe turned at the unfamiliar woman’s voice, not missing the note of authority in it. The woman who approached her had auburn hair swept into a neat ballet bun and was dressed in a power suit and heels, completely out of place for an active-duty officer, and Chloe’s brow furrowed as she wondered who it was hailing her.</p><p>“Welcome back,” the woman said, offering her hand to shake. Chloe took it, still lost. “Oh, of course. I’m the new acting-Lieutenant Linda Matheson. They offered me the position while you were on administrative leave; the acting-Lieutenant you turned your badge and gun into apparently couldn’t take the pressure of the position. <em>I’m</em> going to be here until they can find someone to take the job Marcus Pierce vacated. I wanted to meet you in person and thank you for your work in bringing Pierce down…but remind you that acting outside the law <em>will not</em> be allowed while I’m overseeing your cases.”</p><p>“Right. Yes. Of course, Lieutenant Matheson,” Chloe said before clearing her throat uncomfortably. “Uh…nice to meet you, ma’am.”</p><p>“Mmm.” Matheson held out her hands, Chloe’s badge and service weapon in them. Chloe took them silently, offering Matheson a hesitant smile. Matheson gave Chloe a tight-lipped smile and a quick nod in return, and then turned to walk away, her heels clacking like gunshots on the polished floor of the bullpen.</p><p>Chloe heaved a soft sigh, securing her weapon on her hip after checking it and attached her badge to the opposite hip. She gave her tan suit jacket a quick tug to settle it more comfortably before turning and continuing to her desk.</p><p>It looked oddly forlorn, the top empty of any of the normal clutter of case files from ongoing cases and her small potted plant looking desperate and wilted after weeks of being ignored. Chloe settled into her desk chair and sat silently for several minutes, staring at the powered down monitor resting on the desk, not sure what to do next.</p><p>Impulsively, she pulled her cellphone from the pocket she’d tucked it into earlier in the day and hit the entry for Lucifer’s number, bringing the phone to her ear. She tapped a fingertip on her desk rapidly as the call rang out, wondering what the hell she was doing.</p><p>“Detective!”</p><p>As soon as she heard the joy in Lucifer’s voice, Chloe’s heart constricted. She had tried to ignore how much she had been missing him over the last few weeks, but the reality was that no matter how much he might frighten her, no matter how uncomfortable being near him might make her, she <em>missed</em> him.</p><p>“Lucifer. I’m…I’m back at work.”</p><p>“Lovely! We have a case?”</p><p>The warmth of his voice rolled over her, and she closed her eyes to revel in it, her free hand tightening into a fist on her empty desk.</p><p>“No. No, nothing yet. I only just got here.”</p><p>“Ah. Then…why are you calling me?”</p><p>Oh.</p><p>Chloe cleared her throat, suddenly intensely uncomfortable, and opened her eyes to glance around the precinct, struggling to find an answer to his question that didn’t sound completely needy.</p><p>“I, uh…just wanted to let you know that I was back at the precinct again.”</p><p>“Mission accomplished.” His tone was light, almost teasing, but Chloe couldn’t summon up a smile. It didn’t matter; he couldn’t see her. Her silence stretched on and finally Lucifer spoke again, freeing them both from the awkwardness of the moment. “Well, let me know when we have a case and I’ll be on my way.”</p><p>“Right. Of course. Okay, bye.” She disconnected, dropping the phone and her head onto the desk in front of her, groaning softly.</p><p>“Excuse me?” The voice was unfamiliar, low and cultured and completely nonplussed at finding a police detective lying face-down on her desk.</p><p>Chloe sat up sharply, aware of how unprofessional she was being, collapsing over her desk like a sorority girl after a few too many drinks at a rager. “Sorry! That was…ahem. Can I help you?”</p><p>The man standing before her had a bald head but a full and neatly trimmed salt-and-pepper beard that did not mask his solemn expression. His suit and button up shirt were uniformly black, the only variation the thin white strip tucked into his collar that marked him as a priest.</p><p>“I certainly hope so, Detective,” he said, his rich voice low and private. “My name is Father William Kinley, and I believe you are uniquely positioned to assist me.”</p><p>Chloe blinked, baffled. “Oh. Uh. The LAPD <em>is</em> here to assist the citizens of Los Angeles.”</p><p>“Of course, Detective, but I’m talking about <em>you</em>.” Father Kinley looked around the precinct, clasping his hands together in front of his waist as his eyebrows drew down. “Is there somewhere we could speak more privately?”</p><p>Chloe sat back in her chair, brow furrowing. “I…sure? We could go to interrogation, as long as no one’s using the rooms right now.”</p><p>“Interrogation. Those rooms have one-way mirrors, don’t they? Anyone could be listening in with us none the wiser?”</p><p>Chloe felt a stir of alarm. He looked like a priest, but there was no proof but the collar, and any crazy could tuck a bit of paper into their collar. Keeping her tone light and professional, Chloe said, “Why don’t you tell me what it is you need help with, Father, and we’ll see if I can help you without us needing to go anywhere.”</p><p>Father Kinley’s eyebrows lowered, a frown pulling his lips down and making him quite a bit more intimidating. Chloe’s hand drifted down to touch her weapon on her hip, reassuring herself. Of course, they were in the middle of the precinct; Kinley would have to be crazy to try anything.</p><p>“All right, Detective. As I said, my name is Father Kinley, but I am not your typical priest. I don’t have a flock of my own. Instead, I work with the Vatican as an investigator.” Kinley reached into a pocket inside his jacket, pulling out a small business card and passing it to Chloe. She cast a quick glance at it, verifying that it matched what he was telling her. Of course, anyone could walk into a FedEx store and print business cards for a nominal fee. She laid it on top of her empty desk and nodded.</p><p>“What brings you from Rome?” she asked, playing along for now.</p><p>“I am on assignment to investigate someone that I believe you know well.” Kinley paused, his eyebrows raising slightly as he met Chloe’s eyes with an intimidatingly hard look. “Lucifer Morningstar.”</p><p>Chloe’s heart gave a single, hard thump and she leaned forward over her desk, lowering her voice further. “Lucifer. What…yes, I know him. He’s a consultant with the LAPD. He’s my civilian partner. He offers a unique perspective on the cases, and he’s been helpful too many times to name.” Chloe realized she was babbling excuses to defend Lucifer and shut her mouth, giving her head a tiny shake as she clasped her hands together and rested them on her desk. “Why are you interested in Lucifer, Father?”</p><p>“We have heard rumors that seem to indicate that he is, in fact, the Devil.”</p><p>Chloe could not stop the sharp intake of breath and Kinley didn’t miss it. He leaned forward, resting his palms on the top of her desk, his voice dropping to a whisper. “You’ve seen it.”</p><p>“I…I…” Chloe saw his monstrous face in her mind’s eye, the details painfully clear. The tortured, twisted red leather that passed for his skin, the shimmering embers of his eyes, the black hole of his mouth…</p><p>Chloe realized tears were gathering in her eyes and turned away quickly, trying to surreptitiously wipe the moisture away before they could roll down her face.</p><p>“Detective Decker, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up disturbing memories.” Kinley reached into his jacket again, producing a cloth handkerchief. He offered it to Chloe, but she waved it away, clearing her throat and trying to pull herself together again. It was too late to deny that Lucifer wasn’t actually the Devil; if Kinley was who he said he was, he wouldn’t believe her denials at this point anyway.</p><p>“So, why are you <em>here?</em>” she asked.</p><p>Kinley stood upright again, tucking the handkerchief away with practiced ease. “Because <em>he</em> doesn’t <em>belong</em> here, Detective. That is the entire reason I’ve traveled to LA. The Devil should not be on Earth. It endangers everyone for such evil to be here. He must return to Hell, and I can make that happen…but I would need your help.”</p><p>Chloe stared at Kinley as his words slowly sank in, and then she shook her head sharply. “No. No, I can’t…<em>won’t</em> help you. You don’t know him, Father. He’s…he’s not…he’s not <em>evil</em>.”</p><p>Kinley’s face became sorrowful and he leaned back on his heels slightly, giving Chloe a pitying look down his nose. “Detective. He is <em>entirely</em> evil. He is <em>the Devil</em>. He has visited Earth many times, and every time he has brought death and destruction with him. He cannot be allowed to stay, and I believe that you, as his friend and confidante, are uniquely positioned to help us send him back where he belongs.”</p><p>“No,” Chloe said again, standing abruptly, her desk chair rolling back. “I can’t…y-you have to…please, I need you to leave.”</p><p>Father Kinley stared at her silently for a long moment before sighing. “I can understand your hesitation. But, Detective, I know that <em>you</em> know, somewhere deep inside, that he is not supposed to be here and that he is dangerous. He can present a face that seems charming, eloquent…kind, even. But that is all an <em>act</em>. The Devil has been manipulating human beings since the beginning of time.”</p><p>“Father Kinley, I’m asking again: please, leave.” Chloe pushed all her offended fury into her voice and Kinley nodded, stepping back from her desk.</p><p>“Of course. Thank you for listening to me.”</p><p>She watched him leave the bullpen, keeping her eyes on him until he finally moved around a corner and was gone. She collapsed back into her chair with a heavy sigh and then jumped as she heard Dan speaking just behind her.</p><p>“Who was that?”</p><p>“Dan! I…uh, it was nothing. No one. What’s up?” She turned in her chair to look up at Dan. He was giving her a doubtful look, tapping a file folder into the open palm of one hand as he considered her. Finally, he shook his head and held the folder towards her.</p><p>“We got a body. Want to ride along?”</p><p>Chloe flipped the folder open, reading the details in quick sweeps of her eyes. “A priest?”</p><p>“Former,” Dan corrected, moving to point at a section of the report. “He left the priesthood a month ago. The only reason his body was found was because someone from his church came to see how he’d been doing since he left. It looked like natural causes, but the autopsy seems to be pointing to some kind of poison.”</p><p>Chloe felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. A priest had been standing in front of her minutes before, and now they had a dead former priest murdered in LA. Sure, it could be a coincidence…but something told her it probably wasn’t.</p><p>“Yeah,” she said, closing the file and tucking it under her arm as she met Dan’s eyes. “I want to ride along.”</p><p>They were almost at Dan’s vehicle in the underground parking garage when Chloe pulled her phone out to call Lucifer with the details of the new case, flipping the file open again to check the address.</p><p>“Hey, wait,” Dan said, coming to a stop in the dimness of the garage. “You aren’t about to call Lucifer, are you?”</p><p>Chloe hesitated, lowering her phone and the case file slowly to hang beside her legs. “I was going to, yeah. Why?”</p><p>“No. Look, I get that you guys have this…this weird partnership, but I don’t want him involved in any cases I’m assigned to, okay?”</p><p>Chloe blinked, taken aback by the request, and shut the file once more, tucking it back under her arm as she turned her phone off, keeping it in her hand. “Dan? I don’t…I mean, I know you’ve had some issues with him in the past, but…”</p><p>“There’s no ‘but,’ Chloe. He’s…he’s not a good guy, okay? I know you don’t think so, but you’ve got like, this blind spot when it comes to Lucifer. I wish you could see what I see.”</p><p>Chloe dropped her eyes to the toes of her shoes, unable to meet Dan’s earnest, pained expression. She felt like she was being hammered today with anti-Lucifer messages, and it was making her head spin. Lucifer’s twisted, hideous face flashed in her mind again and she shook her head slightly, closing her eyes for a second. That wasn’t <em>all</em> he was. She <em>knew</em> it…and yet.</p><p>“I won’t bring him in on this case, okay?”</p><p>“Thank you,” Dan said, sounding relieved, his shoulders dropping slightly as he relaxed. “Come on, let’s get going.”</p><p>Defeated, Chloe tucked her phone back into the pocket of her pants and followed Dan mutely to his vehicle.</p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Crisis of Faith</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lucifer was pacing. He hated pacing. It was such a useless waste of time and energy, and it reminded him too strongly of how he’d passed the endless millennia in Hell when there’d been nothing else to occupy him other than pacing and planning how he could exact his revenge on his father.</p><p>Oddly enough, the same thoughts were resurfacing now as he paced an endless and pointless circle around his penthouse, his hair mussed from him repeatedly thrusting his fingers through it in frustration as he came round to the same conclusion over and over again: he could do nothing.</p><p>He had tried, once, to keep his distance from the Detective when it had first been brought to his attention that she’d been created as part of his father’s master plan and likely had been brought into being for him. Now, he had the confirmation of it, and he was faced with the same issue that had plagued him before: avoiding the one person from whom he desperately <em>did not</em> want to be away.</p><p>He wanted to give her the freedom of choice. He wanted to know that he was who she <em>wanted</em> to be with, not who she was <em>forced</em> to be with because of dear old Dad’s grand plan.</p><p>Lucifer paced out onto the balcony, glaring unseeing across the possibilities of LA stretched out before him. He leaned against the balcony rail, closing his eyes and thrusting his hands into his hair once more as frustration boiled up in him.</p><p>This would not do. He was going to make himself insane if he kept wrestling with an unsolvable problem. Besides, the Detective wasn’t here right now; it was not a problem he needed to solve at this moment.</p><p>Decision delayed, Lucifer turned on his heel to head to his shower. The best and easiest way to distract himself would be to sink himself into humanity and their vices. With the day wearing on towards late afternoon, there was every chance that Lux would soon be filling up with the early evening crowd. It would be easy enough to find several willing participants to share his time with, and it was always enjoyable to listen to the trials and tribulations of humans seeking his help. What better way to ignore his own problems than to solve a few for others?</p><p>The comforting familiarity of good music, good liquor, and the press of dozens of bodies seeking his attention lulled Lucifer into a better mood. It was by no means a <em>good</em> mood, but he was no longer wrestling unsatisfyingly with the best way to thwart an omniscient overlord.</p><p>His eyes swept over the jostling crowd of revelers in Lux and his eyebrows went up as he recognized the profile of a tall, severe-looking angel at the bar.</p><p>“Excuse me,” he murmured to the small group seated with him on one of the many comfortable couches spread throughout the piano bar/club. He snagged his drink and headed across the club towards the bar, threading between the press of bodies.</p><p>He was sure of who he’d seen once he stepped up next to Amenadiel where the other angel sat at the bar, hunched over his drink, his expression morose.</p><p>“Brother,” Lucifer said, his tone vaguely teasing, “Still on Earth? And you look like I feel.”</p><p>Amenadiel did not straighten up, remaining hunched over the bar on his forearms, his hands wrapped around the tumbler before him. “No, I’m pretty sure my issues are <em>much</em> bigger than yours. Trust me.”</p><p>Lucifer procured a bottle from behind the counter and refreshed the drink in his hand, giving an almost inaudible snort at Amenadiel. “I think we all know <em>nothing</em> is bigger than mine.”</p><p>“Linda’s pregnant,” Amenadiel blurted, and Lucifer set the bottle down, focusing more fully on his brother as he sank onto the barstool beside Amenadiel. Dr. Linda Martin was Lucifer’s friend and therapist, although the order of those two designations rather depended on the day, the situation, and his level of emotional turmoil at any given moment. He had learned about the relationship between his brother and the good Dr. Martin several months before, but he had also been led to believe that the relationship was concluded. Perhaps not as concluded as they’d all thought, then.</p><p>“We’ll call it a tie,” Lucifer said, giving a tiny bark of disbelieving laughter. “Are you sure it’s yours?”</p><p>“Luci, Linda’s not like that,” Amenadiel protested, sounding offended on her behalf. “You, of all people, should know that!”</p><p>“Relax, brother, I just meant…a celestial impregnating a human? How is that even possible?”</p><p>“And if it is,” Amenadiel added, looking thoughtful, “how has this not already happened to you?”</p><p>“True,” Lucifer murmured, raising his drink and taking a pensive sip. “It raises the question you brought up the other day: how much of our reality is directly influenced by our own thoughts and emotions? You said you realized we had control of everything. Does that include things like how human we are?”</p><p>“What do you mean?” Amenadiel asked, sitting upright and abandoning his death grip on his drink.</p><p>“Perhaps when you lost your wings, you became as human as it gets. In much the same way that I become vulnerable to wounding from human things when I’m around the Detective, it might be possible for me to control this whole…emotional-soulmate-flood by simply closing the floodgates.”</p><p>“Luci, I’m not following.”</p><p>“It’s simple: if I can shut off my emotional responses, then perhaps I can stop this entire soulmate thing before it even gets started! You were able to impregnate Linda because you decided you weren’t worthy of being an angel anymore. If <em>I</em> decide not to feel things so strongly anymore, then the emotional connection between the Detective and I can end and things can go back to how they were before!”</p><p>“Luci, it doesn’t work that way,” Amenadiel began, but Lucifer was already rising, reaching out to thump Amenadiel companionably on the shoulder.</p><p>“Thank you, brother; I never could’ve thought of this on my own! You’ve been incredibly helpful!” Lucifer wove through the crowd, leaving Amenadiel once again alone at the bar, clutching his drink like his last lifeline on a stormy sea.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Chloe felt him coming before she saw him. She’d barely had time to get to the precinct Monday morning and begin preparing a cup of coffee before threads of excited anticipation began subtly suffusing her thoughts. For a moment, she wondered just how bad her caffeine addiction had gotten until the feelings grew much stronger than a cup of coffee could warrant and she realized what had to be happening.</p><p>She took in a slow breath, lowering the mug to the countertop in front of her, letting the alien excitement grow in her mind until she heard the cheerful hail from behind her. “Detective!”</p><p>“Lucifer,” she said, forcing a smile and turning towards him. “I…felt you coming.”</p><p>“Damn it,” he swore sharply, the excitement bubbling away and leaving bitter disappointment behind. “Hold on. I want to…”</p><p>There was a pause, Lucifer’s handsome face tightening, eyebrows drawing down, eyes narrowing as he concentrated. Chloe stared at him in confusion for a few seconds before gasping as realization crashed over her: she felt <em>confusion</em>. She <em>only</em> felt confusion.</p><p>“It’s gone!” she whispered, and Lucifer’s face brightened instantly, the swirl of excitement and elation crashing back over her in a tidal wave that made her stumble back, her hand striking the mug on the counter. It crashed to the floor, but not before hot liquid inside scalded the back of her hand. She let out a shout as she jerked her hand to her chest, cradling it protectively.</p><p>Lucifer was beside her in an instant, dragging her towards the small sink in the break room and thrusting her injured hand beneath the faucet as he twisted the cold water on.</p><p>“It’s back,” she said unnecessarily, staring down at the slowly reddening skin on the back of her hand.</p><p>“I thought as much,” Lucifer muttered. “But this is hopeful, Detective, don’t you see?”</p><p>“My burned hand?” she asked, eyes squinting slightly as she turned a questioning look up at him. Lucifer huffed, still holding her by the wrist to keep her hand in the flow of the cool water.</p><p>“No, the fact that I was able to control the flood of emotions for a moment. True, it was the emotional equivalent of trying to hold back an orgasm –”</p><p>“Too many details,” Chloe said sharply, jerking her hand away from his grip and twisting the faucet off, shaking it a bit to dry it.</p><p>“<em>But</em>,” he continued, unperturbed, “it was something that I managed. Don’t you see, Detective? This means that with a little practice, I can control this – this…emotional vomit and we can get back to how things were!”</p><p>Chloe shot a quick glance around the breakroom, ensuring no one else had come in when she wasn’t looking, and then stepped marginally closer to Lucifer, leaving enough distance between them that she could jump back should he make a sudden grab for her. She dropped her voice to a murmur to avoid being overheard by anyone passing close to the breakroom.</p><p>“Lucifer, you can’t…you can’t just expect things to go back to normal. You…you are the actual, literal <em>Devil</em>. How am I supposed to – to work with you every day, knowing that you are…<em>you?</em>”</p><p>She felt the disappointment and sorrow welling up in him, the feelings making her chest tighten in response. She stepped closer, unable to stop herself, and reached out her scalded hand to brush her fingertips against the back of his hand where it hung by his thigh. The look he turned on her was open and hopeful, despite the continued pain his emotions told her he was feeling.</p><p>“I’m no different than I was, Detective,” he whispered, his dark eyes searching her face. “I’m still who I was four months ago – four <em>years</em> ago. The only thing that has changed is that now you know that I was serious every time I told you that I am the Devil.”</p><p>Chloe drew her injured hand back, cradling it against her stomach as she dropped her eyes from his. His disappointment again rose inside of her, and she shook her head.</p><p>“I’m trying,” Chloe whispered, staring at the dirty tile floor. “It’s just hard, Lucifer. Everything written throughout history says that you are the embodiment of evil,” she said, shaking her head. “I know you…but what if I…what if I don’t <em>know</em> you?”             </p><p>Betrayal. It hit Chloe like knife blades and she jerked her eyes up to meet Lucifer’s, her mouth already opening to apologize.</p><p>“<em>Here</em> you are.”</p><p>Dan’s voice cut into the silence of the breakroom, vaguely annoyed and much too loud after the whispered conversation Chloe and Lucifer had been having. Chloe looked over at him, guilty for having hidden away in the breakroom to have a personal conversation. Dan raised a file folder and gave it a little shake.</p><p>“If you aren’t too busy, we have a case.”</p><p>“A case?” Lucifer’s expression lightened a bit and he turned towards Dan. “Is it a good one?”</p><p>“Yeah, no. You’re not coming.” Dan’s voice left no room for argument, and Lucifer’s surprise filtered in to Chloe in tiny twinkles that sparkled and died quickly, fireflies of emotion. “I don’t want you on any of my cases, and <em>this</em> is <em>my case</em>.”</p><p>“Didn’t you just say ‘<em>we</em> have a case,’ Daniel?” Lucifer asked, turning fully to face Dan, his back straightening with affront at being so excluded from something he had assumed was guaranteed to him.</p><p>Dan responded by stepping into the breakroom fully, his face tightening into a snarl as he stepped much too close to Lucifer, glaring up at the taller man. “<em>You</em> are not part of the police force, man. <em>You</em> don’t get to put any kind of claim on <em>any</em> of our cases. Chloe tolerates your stupid act, but that doesn’t mean anyone else has to. I may have put up with you in the past, but that is <em>over</em>.”</p><p>There was a shocked silence, something that felt like the prelude to violence, and Chloe carefully threaded her way between Dan and Lucifer, deciding that at that particular moment, Lucifer was the one she was safer giving her back to. She pressed both of her suddenly sweaty palms gently to Dan’s shirtfront, moving him back a few steps as he broke eye contact with Lucifer, his face twisting in disgust.</p><p>“Dan. It’s okay. I’ll meet you at your desk in a minute, okay?”</p><p>Dan cast one last look at Lucifer, his upper lip curling, and then he made a dismissive gesture with his free hand and stormed from the breakroom.</p><p>“What on <em>Earth</em> was that about?” Lucifer wondered out loud, turning his surprised gaze to Chloe.</p><p>“You should go,” she said, rubbing her sweaty palms on the thighs of her pants.</p><p>His disappointment rose up in her head, and Chloe brought one hand to her forehead, already exhausted by the push and pull of his emotions after only a few minutes. A second later, the intense flow of disappointment ebbed, and Chloe dropped her hand to her side, looking up at Lucifer. His jaw was tight, his brows drawn down, and she knew he was fighting to keep his feelings from drowning her.</p><p>“Thank you,” she whispered. “I’ll…I’ll come by your penthouse tonight, okay? We can talk then.”</p><p>“All right, Detective.” His voice betrayed the sorrow that he was fighting so hard to keep from her, and she touched his hand lightly again as she moved past him, the barest brush of fingers. His sorrow faded away as she walked to Dan’s desk, becoming a lighter and lighter presence in her head the further she got from him. By the time she made it all the way to Dan’s desk, the only emotions in her head were her own, and her relief almost made her legs unsteady.</p><p>“What have we got?” she asked Dan’s back, stopping beside his desk. She expected him to turn his desk chair to face her and start rattling off the facts of the case, but he didn’t move. She realized he was breathing hard, his back heaving like he’d just run a race, and she softened her voice. “Dan? Are you okay?”</p><p>“I hate that guy,” Dan whispered, the words coming out in a tight rasp. “He gets away with <em>everything</em>…he never gets what he has coming to him. And he just keeps coming here, expecting us to let him screw around with our cases…”</p><p>“Dan…he’s a civilian consultant. Part of what he’s supposed to do is consult on our cases –”</p><p>“<em>Not my cases!</em>” Dan shouted, finally turning to face her.</p><p>She had been married to Dan for years, and they had experienced their fair share of fights throughout their relationship, but she had never seen him this angry before. A vein pulsed on the side of his forehead and his face was flushed an ugly, mottled red. He was still breathing like a bull about the charge, the muscles in his arms tight and bulging as he glared at Chloe with so much hatred that she took an involuntary step back. His shout had been loud enough that multiple people were looking over at them, whispering questions to one another.</p><p>“Hey,” she said, making her voice soothing and soft despite the sudden panicked racing of her heart. “I hear you. Not on your cases. I’ve got it, okay? I’ll make sure he understands that.”</p><p>Dan was still glaring at her, but after a few more tense seconds, he blew out a sharp breath, dropping the case file on the desk in front of her and raising both hands to scrub them across his face, obviously trying to let go of his anger at Lucifer for the moment.</p><p>Chloe lifted the file, following Dan’s lead and trying to let go of his outburst, focusing on the case at hand. She flipped the folder open and began to read, not able to stop her sharp intake of air as she took in the facts of the case.</p><p>“A priest. <em>Another</em> priest?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Dan said. “Amazing, isn’t it? Someone really has it in for religious leaders in this town.”</p><p>Chloe was horrified to see that the crime read very similarly to the one she and Dan had been to just a couple of days before. Another man of the cloth murdered and, just like the murder they had been called to before, it looked like this priest had been poisoned.</p><p>“Let’s go,” she said, flipping the folder shut.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>“Jonathon was a junior priest,” Father Mackleman explained, leading Chloe and Dan slowly through the echoing nave of the huge church, his hands clasped before his waist. “He finished at seminary five months ago and joined us here at Our Father of the Angels. He had a promising career ahead of him, and then…this.”</p><p>“Mmm,” Chloe said sympathetically, nodding. “Father, did he have any enemies that you can think of, anyone who might have had a grudge?”</p><p>“Jonathon?” Father Mackleman gave a little laugh, shaking his head as he stopped walking, turning to face Chloe and Dan. “No, Detective Decker. He was very well liked.”</p><p>Chloe caught something in the Father’s voice that sent a little ping of suspicion through her and she took a single step closer to the priest, lowering her voice. “Anything at all you can think of that might have made him a target?”</p><p>“He…he had recently had a – a crisis. Of faith. He’d questioned his path…but it was a temporary thing.”</p><p>Chloe and Dan exchanged a look. The first victim had been a former priest, and now a priest-in-training who was questioning his faith…it couldn’t be a coincidence.</p><p>“Who knew about his crisis of faith?” Dan asked, putting his hands on his hips as he drew the priest’s attention to himself.</p><p>“Everyone,” Father Mackleman said, spreading his arms wide. “Jonathon didn’t keep it a secret as he sought to find peace in his soul once more. I even wrote to the Holy Mother Church to seek the help from priests more knowledgeable than I. They hadn’t had a chance to get back to me when Jonathon was able to find peace on his own and continue his path towards priesthood.”</p><p>“How long ago was this?” Chloe asked.</p><p>“I wrote them two weeks back. Jonathon returned to his duties three days ago.” Father Macklemore bowed his head, his expression sorrowful. “It is a true tragedy that he should be taken from us when he had just found his faith again. He would’ve been a powerful force in the Church, had he remained alive.”</p><p>“Thank you for your help, Father,” Dan said, giving Chloe a little nod as he turned to leave. Chloe gave the priest a quick smile before following Dan out of the church and into the bright sunlight of midmorning. It had been over an hour since they had arrived at Our Father of the Angels. The crime scene had been as unremarkable as the first scene had been several days before: no sign of a struggle beyond faint bruising to the wrists indicative of them being bound. No obvious outward signs of the cause of death except a puddle of vomit near the body.</p><p>Ella Lopez, the forensic scientist who oversaw most of their cases, hadn’t been able to verify in the field that the same poison had been used in both murders, but she had confessed she suspected it. Given how good Ella was at her job, her suspicion was almost as good as a guarantee in Chloe’s eyes, and it made her stomach feel queasy. If a group or an individual was targeting the priests in LA, they could have a serial killer on their hands.</p><p>“This is bad,” Dan muttered, looking around the busy street with narrowed eyes.</p><p>“I know,” Chloe said, sighing.</p><p>“The main issue with these murders isn’t that these guys don’t have anything in common; it’s that they have <em>too much</em> in common. Both victims were priests, both were having crises of faith, both were poisoned by an unknown substance…how are we supposed to know whether we can expect more victims and narrow down who they might be when our victim pool could include every priest in LA who has some questions about the Bible?”</p><p>“I know, I know,” Chloe agreed, rubbing her forehead with one hand as she made her way down the front steps of the church to the sidewalk below, heading towards Dan’s car. This didn’t look good, and given how quickly victim number two had followed victim number one, they didn’t have much time.</p>
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<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Blah Blah Blah</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was nearly 3pm when Chloe poked her head into the precinct lab, glancing over the full workbenches to where Ella Lopez, forensic scientist and tiny ball of joy, was bent over a microscope.</p><p>“Are you busy? I brought coffee,” Chloe said, and Ella straightened up, her long black ponytail swinging as she turned with a smile to face Chloe.</p><p>“Hey! Come on in. Kind of late in the day for coffee, though, isn’t it? I mean, unless you’re planning to be up tonight.”</p><p>“Yeah, I actually have something planned this evening, and I need to be awake and mentally functional for it,” Chloe admitted as she pushed the lab door open a little wider and wedged herself into the opening, not yet entering the lab fully. “If you don’t want yours, though –”</p><p>“It’s fine! Just find somewhere to set it. Your timing is great, actually; I was planning to come talk to you in a few minutes. I have the early results from the analysis of the stomach contents of the second priest –”</p><p>“Jonathon Lucas,” Chloe supplied, stepping into the lab and letting the glass door swing shut behind her as she settled a mug of coffee on an empty space on one of the workbenches, bringing her own up to her mouth to take a sip of the warm brew, the sweetness of the honey she’d added taking out a lot of the bitter kick that always accompanied coffee that had been left too long on the warmer.</p><p>“Yep,” Ella agreed, stepping around a workbench to grab a stack of files, paging through them until she found the one that she wanted. “Preliminary reports are showing that it looks like the same chemical was used in both the murder of Jonathon Lucas and the first guy, Mitchell Landers.”</p><p>“All right, so they’re definitely connected,” Chloe said, coming to stand beside Ella and look down at the report the shorter woman held.</p><p>“Oh, definitely,” Ella agreed. “But here’s the weird part: this isn’t a normal poison that most people can throw together at their kitchen sink. It comes from a naturally occurring plant. I’ve sent a sample out to a lab I know that’s good with plant poisons to confirm, because right now, it looks like what we have here is pretty unlikely. My preliminary results are showing that the poison is devilsbane.”</p><p>Chloe choked on her mouthful of coffee, gagging as she tried to suck in a startled breath at the same moment as she tried to swallow the liquid. Coffee shot out of her mouth and back into the mug and dribbled out of her nose as wave after wave of hard choking gags assaulted her.</p><p>“Oh, crap!” Ella said, rushing around a workbench to grab a handful of paper towels from the dispenser near the lab sink. She stuffed the towels into Chloe’s free hand while raising her other hand to slap Chloe between the shoulder blades several times. “I’m so sorry!”</p><p>Chloe waved the hand holding the paper towels, causing a few of them to drift to the floor at their feet. She wiped her nose and mouth, clearing her throat as she fought to catch her breath again.</p><p>“Not your fault,” she managed to say, her voice thick. “Did you just say <em>devilsbane?</em>”</p><p>“Yeah, it’s a really rare plant. It’s related to Aconitum napellus, more commonly known as wolfsbane, but while wolfsbane can be found all over Europe, devilsbane is pretty fragile and is only known to grow in one place: the Apennine Mountains in Italy.” Ella raised her eyebrows, smiling with pride. “Crazy, right?”</p><p>“So…someone is importing this stuff from Italy?”</p><p>“Has to be!” Ella said, reaching over to pick up her stack of files again. “It’s more toxic than wolfsbane, so it’s not something that you could just walk into the store and buy. And, since the plant is so finicky about its growing conditions, it’s not likely someone can just grow it in their backyard.”</p><p>Chloe chewed thoughtfully on her lower lip, staring down at the floor for a few seconds. “The victims didn’t show any signs of a struggle beyond the slight bruising to their wrists that isn’t consistent with a focused effort to get free, so it’s not likely they were forced to drink the poison.”</p><p>“Depending on what it was put in, they might not even have noticed it. Dried wolfsbane is used for herbal remedies in some parts of the world, and it’s reported to have a spicy, sweet flavor. Devilsbane is probably pretty similar, except no herbalist in their right mind would try to use it for healing. Even when dried, devilsbane is too concentrated to be used safely.” Ella shrugged, shutting the file and setting the stack back on the workbench.</p><p>“I can start looking at import/export companies, see if any of them have been bringing in unusual herbs or plants,” Chloe said, leaning her butt back against the wall as she considered.</p><p>“Crazy that someone is using devilsbane to kill priests, huh?”</p><p>“Mmm,” Chloe murmured before snapping out of her own head and looking up. “I’m sorry, what?”</p><p>“I just…I was just saying how it’s crazy that someone is using devilsbane to kill priests. A plant known to be the banisher of evil being used to kill men of the cloth…it just seems wrong.” Ella gave a half smile, shrugging.</p><p>“A banisher of evil?” Chloe repeated, something inside of her sinking.</p><p>“Oh, yeah. In popular mythology, devilsbane could be used to free someone from the control of a demon. Unfortunately, it worked by <em>killing</em> them, but I guess ancient priests took any win they could get.” Ella turned and headed back to her microscope. “It’s not like any of them were <em>actually</em> possessed by demons. Probably just killed a lot of people with epilepsy or something.”</p><p>Chloe took a breath, hesitating. If there was one thing that could be depended upon, it was Ella Lopez’s steadfast devotion to her religious beliefs. Out of all the people in Chloe’s life, Ella was the one most likely to be able to answer questions about Biblical mythology the best. If anyone could help Chloe sort through her difficult feelings about Lucifer, it would be Ella.</p><p> “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that. Well, not demons in particular, but like, religion. You’re pretty religious, right?”</p><p>“I was,” Ella said, glancing up from the microscope. “Kind of on a hiatus with the whole religion thing right now. I’m having trouble having faith after…after Charlotte died for no reason, y’know?”</p><p>“Oh,” Chloe said, disappointment filling her as she let go of the questions that had been building up in her. “Okay. Uh…well, let me know what the other lab says about the poison.”</p><p>“Right, of course,” Ella said, giving Chloe a quick smile before turning back to her work.</p><p>Chloe grabbed her half-consumed mug of coffee and the handful of coffee-damp paper towels she'd used and left the lab, head lowered as she fled from how awkward the conversation had abruptly gotten...and quite literally ran into Father Kinley.</p><p>“Detective Decker! Pardon me,” Kinley rumbled, steadying her with a large, warm hand clasped on her shoulder.</p><p>“I am <em>so</em> sorry,” Chloe said, shame washing through her. Apparently, she'd be moving from one awkward situation to another this afternoon.</p><p>“No harm done,” Kinley said pleasantly, his deep voice and cultured accent making the words even more soothing. “I was actually looking for you. I’d hoped we could talk again.”</p><p>Chloe tensed, forcing herself to meet Kinley’s eyes. “No. I thought I'd been clear the last time you were here, but –”</p><p>“I'm only asking for a few more minutes of your time, Detective Decker. I had some…evidence I wanted to show you. Evidence pertaining to Lucifer Morningstar and my claims regarding him.”</p><p>Chloe sighed softly and then gave her head a small, resigned shake. She lifted her half-full coffee mug with one hand and the wad of paper towels in the other.  “All right. Let me get rid of all of this and I'll meet you at my desk in a couple of minutes.”</p><p>Father Kinley was waiting patiently in front of Chloe’s desk when she arrived a minute later, the mug and paper towels dealt with. He had a large leather-bound book in his hands and a faint smile on his face. “Detective Decker. Thank you for giving me more of your time.”</p><p>“I have a little I can spare at the moment,” Chloe said, dropping into her desk chair and sliding it under her desk. She clasped her hands and rested them on top of the desk, giving Kinley her most professional face. “What was it you wanted to show me?”</p><p>Kinley slid the leather-bound book towards her across the desk.</p><p>“What is this?”</p><p>“Please, Detective, look through it,” Father Kinley said, gesturing with one hand towards the book. “We’ve been collecting information on Lucifer Morningstar for years. Once we uncovered Lucifer’s identity, we were able to uncover evidence of his previous visits with humanity.”</p><p>Chloe shrugged faintly in resignation, opening the cover and beginning to page through the oversize, thick pages of what appeared to be an ancient photo album. Each page had fragile, yellowing newspaper clippings and photographs attached to them. As Chloe flipped through it, she felt her incredulity rising. “You’re…you’re saying he caused the Chicago Fire and…and Nazi Germany?”</p><p>“I’m saying that whenever he visits, death and destruction follow.”</p><p>“Yeah, you said that before. But, speaking as a detective, this is all circumstantial evidence at best,” Chloe said, flipping another page and seeing another huge, historically significant disaster linked to a previous visit from Lucifer.</p><p>“Perhaps,” Kinley agreed. “But when the circumstances pile up this high, aren’t you forced to draw conclusions?”</p><p>“No,” Chloe said decisively, closing the book with a soft thump. “No, I’m <em>not</em>. This isn’t the man I know.”</p><p>Kinley leaned across the desk, reaching out to flip the book open closer to the back. “Keep going.”</p><p>Chloe recognized the people in the photographs here, clippings from recent news articles and photos of people that has been tied to Lucifer in some way and ended up dead or locked in a mental institution after seeing his true face.</p><p>“He didn’t kill these people,” Chloe protested quickly, unwilling to let Kinley’s accusations stand. She turned the page and felt her stomach drop as she recognized a photo of her once-fiancé, Marcus Pierce. She whispered his name on a breath of air before quickly turning her angry gaze up to Kinley. “Okay, he killed Pierce, but Lucifer was just protecting <em>me</em>.”</p><p>“From a situation <em>he</em> caused,” Kinley said, his voice infinitely patient and gentle. “As for the others, you don’t need to be the one pulling the trigger to cause evil.”</p><p>“He <em>doesn’t</em> cause evil,” Chloe snapped, shutting the book again and putting both hands on the cover to keep Father Kinley from opening it again. “You don’t know him. You don’t understand him. And I feel like I’ve given you more than enough of my time, Father Kinley. I’m sorry I can’t be of more help to you, and I hope you have a nice rest of your day.”</p><p>She gave the book a shove and it skidded across her desk, nearly falling to the floor before Kinley caught it and pulled it close to his chest. He didn’t look angry at her sharp response; his expression behind his neatly-trimmed salt-and-pepper beard was sorrowful.</p><p>“Thank you for your time, Detective Decker,” he said, his voice gentle. “I’ll be seeing you again, I’m sure.”</p><p>“God, I hope not,” Chloe muttered, her eyes not leaving the black-clad priest as he made his way out of the precinct.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Chloe was only half-listening to her daughter, Trixie, excitedly detailing a conversation she’d had with a friend at school earlier in the day as they walked towards their apartment. She made interested noises in the right places, but her mind was really on the conversation she’d promised Lucifer that evening. If their whispered back-and-forth in the breakroom that morning was any indication of what she had to look forward to, then it was going to be a rough evening.</p><p>Trixie was still in full blather when Chloe went to unlock the front door and realized it was already unlocked. Surprised, Chloe opened the door and stepped in, wondering if Dan had stopped by unexpectedly to take Trixie out on a father-daughter dinner date.</p><p>She was completely unprepared to see her former roommate and current demon, Maze, sitting on one of the barstools beside the breakfast counter.</p><p>“Maze,” Chloe said, her voice stunned.</p><p>“Maze!” Trixie shrieked, pushing past her mother to get into the apartment. Maze barely had time to step down from the barstool before Trixie’s arms had gone around her waist, squeezing tight enough to make the demon let out a little huff of air.</p><p>“Hey, little human,” Maze said, reaching down to smooth one hand across Trixie’s hair. “I…I was coming to apologize to you for what I said.”</p><p>A couple of months before, Maze had been in a bad place and had said things she didn’t mean in front of Trixie, causing a major rift between the two of them at the same time that Maze stopped being Chloe’s roommate.</p><p>Maze and Trixie’s friendship had been an unusual one to begin with: human children and ageless demons did not usually make good playmates. Somehow, though, they’d grown fond of one another, and Chloe had seen how much the separation had hurt her daughter.</p><p>As much as Chloe wanted to protest the two of them resuming their unusual friendship – Maze was a <em>literal</em> demon whose entire purpose was to torture the souls of damned humans for all eternity, after all – she didn’t have it in her to stop the two from making up when they were both so obviously happy to see one another again.</p><p>“I’m sorry,” Maze whispered, her hand stroking Trixie’s hair over and over.</p><p>“I know, dummy,” Trixie whispered into Maze’s belly, tipping her head up to smile at the demon.</p><p>Chloe cleared her throat, stepping into the apartment and shutting the door behind her. Trixie and Maze released their hug, although Chloe noted that her daughter stayed beside the demon.</p><p>“Welcome back,” Chloe said, dropping her keys on the breakfast bar. “I haven’t seen you in a while. How have you been?”</p><p>“Busy. Bounty hunting, checking in on Lucifer so he didn’t sink too far into his own pity party…the usual.”</p><p>“Pity party?” Chloe asked, taken aback.</p><p>“Decker, come on. You’ve been ignoring him for like, a month. How did you think he would handle it?” Maze crossed her arms, giving Chloe an incredulous look as if she couldn’t believe how dense the human woman was being.</p><p>“I…I thought he’d handle it fine,” Chloe confessed. “Drinking, drugs, women…his usual schtick.”</p><p>“Oh, there was drinking,” Maze said, giving a quick laugh. “It’s not easy for demons to get drunk, but the rate he was taking it in, I had trouble keeping up sometimes. I guess I can thank you for that much, anyway.”</p><p>“Are you…are you trying to tell me he went on a bender?”</p><p>“Boy, did he. It was awesome!” Maze smiled like a cat that had gotten into the cream, her red lips curving up in wicked delight as she cocked one hip to the side and leaned her head back. “It would’ve been better without all the ‘why can’t she accept me’ and ‘why didn’t she believe me’ whining, but if you get drunk enough, everything just sounds like ‘blah blah blah’ anyway.”</p><p>“Oookay!” Chloe said, stepping forward quickly. “Hey, Monkey, why don’t you put your things away and get started on your homework, okay?”</p><p>Trixie sighed, aware that no amount of wheedling or cajoling would get her out of her mother’s request, and gave Maze one last quick squeeze before hefting her backpack up onto one shoulder and dashing off to her bedroom again.</p><p>“You know, speaking of Lucifer…I actually have a favor to ask of you,” Chloe said slowly, looking after Trixie thoughtfully. “I was going to ask Dan to watch Trixie, but if you don’t mind, I promised Lucifer I’d go to his penthouse and talk to him this evening. It shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours.”</p><p>“Sure, Decker,” Maze said, smiling brightly. “It’ll be nice to catch up with Trix.”</p><p>“Great!” Chloe said, trying to make the word true. “Yeah, I guess we all have catching up to do.”</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Lux was almost at capacity when Chloe stepped up to the tall, impressive building that evening. The long line of those waiting to be let inside did not miss her being nodded past by the bouncer, and Chloe could feel the weight of judgmental eyes on her back as she pushed through the front door.</p><p>The flashing lights and low throb of music held no attraction for her, though, and she made her way down to floor level in quick, business-like steps, her eyes scanning the crowd and the people clustering at the bar, looking for Lucifer. But he was nowhere to be seen, and she realized it was foolish of her to have expected him to be downstairs in the busy club. They’d already tried to have a conversation in a public place today, and it had not gone well. He would be waiting for her in his private penthouse on the top floor.</p><p>The ride up in the elevator felt like it simultaneously took forever and no time at all. She was eager to see him, but at the same time, hesitant.</p><p>As the elevator doors slid open, she realized that the emotions crowding her head, though conflicting, were only her own, and a thrill of excitement went through her.</p><p>Lucifer was facing away from her when she entered the penthouse. He was seated at his piano, a gentle melody filling the open space as his fingers moved expertly across the keys. Chloe stepped up behind him silently, sliding carefully onto the piano bench. He caught sight of her out of the corner of his eye and she felt a tiny jolt of excitement before it was abruptly snapped off, his eyebrows drawing down as he obviously struggled to get a handle on his emotions.</p><p>“Thank you,” she whispered, reaching out to rest the fingers of one hand lightly on the back of his. “I appreciate that you’re trying so hard to…to stay out of my head.”</p><p>“I genuinely never intended to get into your head, Detective,” Lucifer murmured, his fingers stilling on the keys now that one of his hands was covered by one of hers. “Honestly, there are very different parts of your anatomy I had intended to get into.”</p><p>Chloe gave a quick laugh, shaking her head, staring down at the piano keys in front of her as she thought of what to say, finding it hard to order her thoughts now that she was here.</p><p>“I believe that when we last spoke, you were expressing doubt over whether or not you truly knew me,” Lucifer said, his voice very soft. He still had not looked at her, his eyes downcast on the piano keys as hers also were.</p><p>“Y-yeah,” Chloe said, her brows drawing down as she remembered the harsh wash of his betrayal sweeping through her mind that morning.</p><p>“I am what I have always been, Detective. Nothing has changed.”</p><p>Chloe took a soft breath, tears gathering in her eyes. “That’s part of the problem, Lucifer. If <em>nothing</em> has changed, like you just said, then…then aren’t you the monster history has painted you to be?”</p><p>He looked at her then, his dark eyes wide and shocked, mouth hanging slightly open. His emotions slammed into her with physical weight, making her suck in a sharp breath: hurt, shock, and slowly rising anger.</p><p>“How many times have I told you that I am <em>not responsible for the evils of humanity?</em>” Lucifer fairly hissed, drawing his hand out from beneath hers on the keys and standing from the piano bench, putting physical distance between them even as his emotions drew them together more intimately than any physical touch could. Unfortunately, his movement swiped one hand past the drink he’d had balanced at the edge of the piano lid and the tumbler crashed to the floor, bits of glass skittering across the hard floor. They both stared down at it, Lucifer’s dismay at breaking the glass mingling with her surprise, both emotions washing away in his frustration and her sorrow at his frustration.</p><p>“I know,” Chloe whispered, her eyes shut, one hand cradling her head as she tried to sort through the maelstrom of both his and her own emotions, her mind’s eye filling with the pages of the leather-bound book Kinley had shoved at her earlier in the day. “I-I know, Lucifer…but history says –”</p><p>“<em>History!</em>” Lucifer snarled. “Books written by humans to excuse their own failings, trying desperately to place the blame on <em>anyone</em> but themselves. I have never caused the downfall of anyone but myself, Detective.”</p><p>“But –”</p><p>“<em>Never</em>.”</p><p>Chloe shut her mouth, raising her head slowly to meet Lucifer’s furious gaze, his anger scalding the inside of her head in pulsing waves. She dropped her eyes to the floor almost instantly, unable to meet his eyes when she felt so guilty.</p><p>He huffed softly before crouching down, reaching towards the largest chunk of the glass tumbler he’d knocked down a minute before. He moved with sharp, jerky movements, his anger distracting him. She didn’t miss his sharp hiss of pain as he sliced the meaty part of his palm open when he grabbed the broken chunk of glass a bit too cavalierly.</p><p>“Lucifer,” she whispered, sliding off the piano bench and moving towards him.</p><p>“Of course,” he muttered, glaring down at his palm. “<em>You’re</em> here.”</p><p>“What is that supposed to mean?” Chloe asked, thrown by the odd statement.</p><p>“My vulnerability,” he said, lifting his hand to show her the sliced and bloody meat of his palm. “I can only be injured like this when you’re around. Something about you…” He shook his head and sighed, cradling the wounded hand to his chest.</p><p>“I…I didn’t know. I had no idea.” Chloe’s voice was thin with shock and she sat back down on the edge of the piano bench, not trusting her legs to hold her. He could <em>only</em> be hurt when she was around? No wonder he’d encouraged her to shoot him early in their friendship. If he’d believed that he was invulnerable, it would’ve been nothing at all to take a bullet to the thigh. Instead, he’d ended up with a noteworthy wound and she’d gotten a necklace with a remarkable charm: the one bullet that had ever penetrated Lucifer Morningstar.</p><p>So, his emotions could force their way into her thoughts, and when she was near him, he could be physically injured. Could this friendship be any more harmful for the two of them?</p><p>“I have never pretended to be anything other than what I am, Detective. I have never acted in bad faith. You knew me – the real me, all of me – from the first time we worked together on a case. All of my flaws, all of my shortcomings, you have seen and known from <em>day one</em>,” Lucifer said, the anger fading to sorrow as he faced her, taking her in: crumpled on the piano bench and blinking back tears.  “Why should your knowledge of my Devil face change any of that?”</p><p>“It shouldn’t,” she whispered. “It shouldn’t. I know that…”</p><p>In between one breath and the next, his face changed, his beautiful countenance seamlessly transitioning into the twisted, malformed red monstrosity. Chloe made a small, distressed sound, turning away instantly. She tried to force her gaze back to him, but it was so hard.</p><p>“But it does,” he said, his disappointment flowing over her as she struggled to keep her gaze on the ember glow of Lucifer’s transformed eyes.</p><p>“It scares me,” she whispered, the words almost inaudible despite the absolute silence of the penthouse. “M-maybe in time…”</p><p>“Of course,” he murmured, his face reverting even as he spoke. She didn’t miss the shimmer of tears in his dark eyes even though he turned away from her almost as soon as the twisted red face was gone. His pain beat at her like a bird at a closed window, shocking and impossible to ignore. “Perhaps you’d best go for now, Detective.”</p><p>Chloe stood silently, defeated, and made her way around the piano towards the elevator. She was almost at the doors when she remembered Dan’s request from earlier in the day and she hesitated, knowing it was the worst possible timing for it but knowing that things would go worse if Lucifer showed up at the precinct the next morning and got under Dan’s feet again.</p><p>“Dan...Dan doesn’t want you involved in any of his cases,” she said, turning back to look at him. He didn’t turn towards her as she spoke, giving her nothing but the broad expanse of his back and the muted shine of the penthouse lights over the rich material of his suit jacket.</p><p>“He made that clear this morning,” Lucifer murmured.</p><p>“I think maybe…it would be a good idea if you stayed away from the precinct for a little while. I’ll contact you when I have a case that Dan isn’t involved in, of course…”</p><p>“Of course.” There was no change in the hurt radiating off of him, no lessening of his pain. “Good-bye, Detective.”</p><p>Dismissed, Chloe stepped into the elevator, her eyes on Lucifer’s back until the doors cut him off from her sight.</p>
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<a name="section0008"><h2>8. As in 'Adam and'</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lucifer had not restocked his personal bar after the three weeks of nearly continuous drinking while he was giving Chloe time and he found himself in the lamentable position of having very little to take the edge off of the pain of rejection that evening. He’d given the Detective more than enough time to get out of Lux while he’d been working his way through the remnants within the last four bottles behind his own personal bar; he could undoubtedly make his way down to the bar that serviced the club-goers and procure a full bottle or three to get him through until the morning.</p><p>He had shucked both his suit jacket and vest and undone the top few buttons of his shirt, but he didn’t much care if he presented a respectable face to the patrons and staff of Lux. He made his way, slightly unsteadily, to the elevator and rode it to the ground floor, leaning against one wall negligently, staring down at the black, polished toes of his Louboutins.</p><p>She couldn’t even meet his eyes. Who was he kidding, thinking that he could get anything back to how it had been before? His inability to control their bond had nothing on the sight of his Devil face in the Detective’s reaction to him. While he might someday be able to shield her completely from what he felt, it was unlikely he would ever lose his Devil face again. That he had misplaced it for a few months was nothing more than a fluke. And she was not handling the reality of his Devil face at all well.</p><p>He was unsurprised to see the club was at capacity despite the late hour. Lux closed around 3am and they were definitely pushing close to that witching hour and yet every table, booth, and couch was packed and the dancefloor undulated with bodies. If there was one thing that could be counted on, it was the human desire to, well, desire. All the couples and thruples and groups were flirting and dancing, peacocking for one another as they lost themselves in the pursuit of lust, his favorite mortal sin. He wished them well, but he had no desire to join them that night.</p><p>The bartender noticed him as he was scooping the second full bottle of liquor from behind the bar. “Mr. Morningstar! We’re…we’re going to need those.”</p><p>“Not as much as I do,” Lucifer scoffed, drawing the bottles close to his chest.</p><p>“Sir, you should consider staying for the last part of the night,” the bartender suggested, nodding a wry head at the busy club. “Business is booming.”</p><p>Lucifer scanned the crowd again, his lip curling slightly as he watched the wild, tossing undulation of human movement assaulting him from every corner of the club. Even had the Detective been in the room, he would not have stayed. He wanted one thing: solitude with which he might nurse his aching heart.</p><p>He turned back to the bartender and shook his head, leaning out to snatch a third full bottle, despite the bartender making a distressed noise in his throat.</p><p>“Thank you <em>very</em> much for these. If anyone asks for me, I’m not in.”</p><p>Lucifer was making his way back towards the elevator that would take him to the silence of his penthouse when he heard a voice calling him. For a moment, he thought he must be hearing things, because the voice, while familiar, was not one that he could ever have expected to hear in Lux. For one thing, the owner of the voice was several thousand years <em>dead</em>.</p><p>“Lucifer! Lucifer!”</p><p>He turned slowly, stunned as he saw the woman making her way off the dancefloor, threading inexpertly through the crowd. Her dark hair was long, full, and wavy. Her eyes were huge and expressive and locked on his face, her wide mouth turning up in an ecstatic smile as she raised one slim arm to wave at him, calling his name once more.</p><p>“<em>Eve?</em>” he whispered, stunned. She caught up with him, her skin shiny with sweat from dancing on the packed dancefloor, her hair wild.</p><p>“Hey, Luce. Long time, no see,” she said nonchalantly, reaching up to push back her wild mane with both hands.</p><p>“You…uh…do you want – uh, would you like to come up?” he asked, momentarily too surprised to form coherent sentences.</p><p>“Okay,” she said agreeably, not bothering to ask what was on the upper levels of the building, and he led her to the elevator, still cradling his three bottles of alcohol to his chest as he stared at her in flabbergasted disbelief.</p><p>The ride up was bizarre. The dead woman in the elevator just smiled at him, breathing hard from her recent exertion on the dance floor, glancing around every so often as if fascinated by the interior. She smoothed her hands lightly over the polished wood grab bars, which she should have been incapable of doing given that her mortal flesh should have disintegrated into dust years since.</p><p>His manners took over as soon as they were in the penthouse, and Lucifer offered her a seat on the couch while he poured drinks for them both.</p><p>“You look great,” he said, offering her a confused smile and a drink. “Same as you did back then.”</p><p>“So do you!” she offered, her chirpy voice the same as it had ever been, rubbing the palm of one slim hand over the smooth leather of the couch beside her as she accepted the offered drink with the other hand. She glanced up at him, taking in his ruffled appearance, a peek of his bare chest revealed by the undone top buttons of his shirt, and her smile grew wider. “Better, even.”</p><p>“Though I must say, this is quite the surprise,” Lucifer said, stepping around her knees to sit near her on the couch, putting his back to the glowing lights of LA beyond his balcony, his brows drawing in as he stared. “You. Here. Back here, on Earth. How?”</p><p>“Found a way out of Heaven,” Eve replied nonchalantly, taking a sip from her drink.</p><p>“I didn’t that that was possible. For humans,” Lucifer added quickly, although the evidence was literally staring him in the face, Eve’s hazel eyes blinking demurely as he watched her.</p><p>“What can I say? I’ve always been a bit of a rule breaker,” Eve confessed, feigning innocence as she gazed down at the coffee table beside them. She raised her eyes, huge and shiny with amusement. “But, you know that.”</p><p>Lucifer felt a grin tugging at his lips at her words and he opened his mouth to respond as the elevator doors across the room slid open and Maze stepped into the penthouse, calling out, “Lucifer! What did she say?”</p><p>“Maze,” Lucifer muttered, rising from the couch with a frown to face Maze as she came to a stop beside Lucifer’s personal bar, one slim hand resting on the bar top. “What did <em>who</em> say?”</p><p>“Decker stormed in and wouldn’t tell me <em>anything</em>. She looked like things went pretty badly, though. So, did they go badly? I’m guessing ‘yes,’ considering you’ve got <em>company</em>.” Maze inclined her head towards Eve on the couch, the woman rising slowly to her feet and setting her drink down on the coffee table as her wide eyes ticked between Lucifer and Maze.</p><p>“Surprisingly, this is not what it looks like, for once,” Lucifer said, emptying his tumbler in one long swallow before setting it on top of his piano. “This is Eve.”</p><p>“Eve,” Maze repeated, raising her brows, obviously not understanding what he was saying.</p><p>“Yes. Eve. As in ‘Adam and,’” Lucifer explained, gesturing back towards the woman standing beside the couch. “Eve, this is Mazikeen of the Lilim, right-hand demon and chief torturer in Hell. Or, she was…before we came here.”</p><p>The two women eyed each other doubtfully for a moment before Maze turned her attention back to Lucifer. “Are you going to fall back into self-pity again? I don’t think I can stand another month of that, no matter how much we drink.”</p><p>Lucifer snorted, turning to scoop his empty glass from the top of the piano as he made his way back to the open bottle on the bar. “No, I am <em>not</em> going to fall back into self-pity. Last month notwithstanding, I am not given to pity parties, thank you. I am going to do what I do best: move forward.”</p><p>“Yes!” Eve said, walking around the couch to stand just behind him, a happy little bounce in her step that was impossible to ignore. “That is <em>exactly</em> the right thing to do. If you don’t like how things are, then make a change!”</p><p>“Is that what you did?” Lucifer asked, turning his head to look curiously at her over his shoulder. “Is that why you left Heaven?”</p><p>Eve’s face dropped, her smile vanishing almost instantly. She paced slowly past Lucifer and over to the piano, running one hand along the top as she spoke, her eyes downcast. “I always felt like something was…missing. People always forget: I didn’t <em>choose</em> Adam. I was <em>created</em> for him.”</p><p>Lucifer felt a sharp pang of guilt at her words, flinching as his mind flew, as always, to his Detective. Was her situation that much different from Eve’s, being the other half meant to make the two of them together a whole?</p><p>“Turns out an arranged existence kind of takes the spark out of things. We got along just fine, but…I don’t think he ever really loved me. Not the <em>real</em> me, y’know?”</p><p>Lucifer grimaced, the melancholy in Eve’s words echoing in his chest almost like a physical blow. Had he and Chloe not just argued about her ability to accept him – all of him, archangel and Devil alike?</p><p>Maze snatched the open bottle of liquor from the bar and sauntered to the couch, holding the bottle negligently in one hand. She took Lucifer’s empty tumbler as she passed the piano, pouring a generous drink into it as she walked. She dropped onto the edge of the couch closest to Eve, leaning out to grab Eve’s discarded glass from the coffee table and refill it, as well. “Then good for you, leaving Heaven behind. There’s more than enough here on Earth to put a spark into anyone. Any time I think I might be getting bored, something new presents itself for my pleasure.”</p><p>Eve’s face lit up, her eyes widening as she turned to face Maze fully. “Yes! I’ve been in Heaven longer than any other human, and Paradise gets a little predictable after a while. So, I started meeting every soul that came through the Pearly Gates, just taking in all their incredible stories, y’know, about everything that was going on down here.”</p><p>“And there’s plenty,” Maze said, saluting Eve with her full tumbler before downing the contents.</p><p>“Oh, my gosh, <em>yes</em>,” Eve agreed enthusiastically. “I realized that the thing I really desired could only be found down here.”</p><p>“And what is it that you really desire?” Lucifer asked, walking over to the piano to stand beside Eve, his curiosity piqued. She stared up at him, her hazel eyes almost seeming to shimmer in the low lights of the penthouse as she met his gaze. There was a beat of silence, her eyes locked on his, before her face stretched into a smile.</p><p>“Excitement! Thrills! Just some good old-fashioned fun. I’m due a lifetime or two of it,” Eve said, spinning away from Lucifer to pace around the piano, and Maze chuckled.</p><p>“Yes, you are.” Maze leaned out to add another dribble of alcohol to Eve’s glass on the coffee table beside her. “Drink up.”</p><p>Eve fairly skipped over to the couch, sitting with a flutter of the skirt on her white dress, and took the offered drink, sipping as she smiled at Maze with her eyes over the top of the glass.</p><p>“So, you’re telling us you came all this way just to party?” Lucifer asked, stepping to the couch to look down at the recently dead woman with doubt.</p><p>“Well…and to see my ex,” Eve offered, her chirpy voice suddenly going low and flirty.</p><p>A bucket of ice water dumped over his head couldn’t have startled him more. He stepped back, blinking, and Eve seemed to realize she had misstepped. She straightened up, forcing a quick smile to her face. “I mean…you are, after all, the only person I know down here.”</p><p>Lucifer stepped over to the bar, putting a little distance between himself and Eve, both physically and emotionally. He procured a new tumbler and worked on opening a second bottle of liquor.</p><p>“How long have you been on Earth?” Maze asked, drawing Eve’s attention off Lucifer. He relaxed slightly, mentally thanking his lieutenant for recognizing when he needed a shield, even after so many years of changing roles for them both.</p><p>“Oh…just a couple of days?” Eve offered, wrapping both hands around her tumbler and pressing it into the tops of her thighs as her shoulders caved in a bit. “Not very long. I woke up in this dusty old tomb, and pretty much jumped the first plane to LA that I could get on.”</p><p>“So you don’t have anywhere to stay?” Maze asked, raising her eyebrows.</p><p>“I hadn’t even thought about that yet,” Eve confessed, her eyes ticking back to Lucifer where he leaned against the bar, sipping on his fresh drink.</p><p>“I can help you out,” Lucifer offered, pleased at the way Eve’s face lit up at his offer.</p><p>“That would be so sweet of you!” Eve said, rising from the couch and walking over to join him at the bar. “I wouldn’t want to impose –”</p><p>“I know Pierre at the Waldorf,” Lucifer said, cutting her off before she could make the situation awkward. He lifted his cellphone from the bar top, noting absently that he’d nearly let the battery run down while he’d been waiting on the Detective to show up for their futile chat. “He owes me a favor. We’ll get you a suite.”</p><p>“A hotel?” Eve stared for a second, obviously nonplussed, and then her face stretched into another big smile and she glanced back at Maze, who was working her way through the remainder of the bottle she’d carried to the couch. “Okay. Great!”</p><p>Lucifer held up a single finger, asking for silence as he raised the phone to his ear. Eve went back to the couch to join Maze as his call was connected, giving up a chit to win himself a night of peace and the knowledge that Eve would be safely bedded down as she acclimated to being alive once more…although from what he’d seen so far, she wasn’t having any trouble with it thus far.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>The insistent buzz of her cellphone on the nightstand woke Chloe. She fumbled along the surface of the nightstand until her fingers bumped the cell, knocking it to the floor with a clatter. Chloe groaned as she realized she would have to wake up fully to retrieve it, and she opened her eyes to roll out of bed. The phone had stopped buzzing, meaning it was now invisible in the dark bedroom, and she swore softly under her breath as she reached for the nightstand and the lamp she knew was on there somewhere.</p><p>In her barely awake state, she managed to miss the lamp entirely, smacking her hand into the wall and bruising her knuckles. Thankfully, the phone started buzzing again with another incoming call, lighting up as it wandered across her floor in little fits and starts in time to the buzz of the notification.</p><p>Chloe almost fell out of bed as she went for the phone, scooping it off the floor and squinting at the screen.</p><p>It was Dan calling. And it was 3:26am.</p><p>“What?” she croaked as she answered the call, and Dan gave a huff of laughter.</p><p>“I woke you?” Dan asked, amusement in his voice.</p><p>“It’s not even 3:30am yet, Dan. <em>Yes</em>, you woke me. What is it?”</p><p>“Body.”</p><p>“Oh, for…” Chloe groaned, rubbing her free hand over her face in a desperate attempt to wake herself. “Okay, pick a number.”</p><p>“Chlo, c’mon, you know I hate this stupid game.” It was something they had established years before for overnight cases where one of them would have to take lead on the case and the other would have to stay with Trixie. Finding a reliable, trustworthy babysitter in the middle of the night was not only incredibly difficult, it was also prohibitively expensive. Chloe had decided the only fair way to solve the problem was to randomize it, so she would choose a number between 5 and 20. If Dan picked a number less than the number she was thinking of, she took the case and he stayed with Trixie. If he picked a number greater than the number she was thinking of, she would stay with Trixie while Dan took lead.</p><p>“Pick a number, Dan.”</p><p>“Fine. Uhh…twelve.”</p><p>“Fifteen,” Chloe replied, sliding out of bed and heading to her closet to get dressed. “Bring the details with you when you come over. I’ll put the extra pillow and blanket on the couch.”</p><p>“Yeah, yeah,” Dan said, and hung up on her with a sigh.</p><p>Chloe was showered, dressed, and nursing a hot mug of coffee when Dan let himself into the apartment twenty minutes later. He looked as ruffled as she felt and collapsed onto the couch with a groan.</p><p>“I’ve sent you the details in a text. I’ll see you at the precinct later.” Dan toed his shoes off onto the floor, already closing his eyes as he punched the pillow to get it comfortable.</p><p>Chloe was settling in the front seat of her car, still cautiously sipping the hot mug of coffee, when she pulled the text up to get the address and the information the first uniforms on the scene had been able to gather so far. A private airplane hangar with a single body, strangled. The victim was Pablo Silva, a jewelry designer from Beverly Hills. According to the flight manifest, he’d been returning from the Middle East.</p><p>Chloe hesitated for a second, tapping one finger on the edge of her cell as she debated whether or not to call Lucifer. She hadn’t tried to be around him on a case since the whole weird emotional connection thing…and they had just had a pretty ugly fight…but she <em>wanted</em> him there. She missed him.</p><p>She scrolled to his contact in her phone before she had time to reconsider. She was a little disappointed when it rang through to voicemail, but she soldiered on.</p><p>“Lucifer, it’s Chloe. We have a case, if you’re interested. I’d…I’d like you to be there to help solve Pablo’s murder, if you’re willing. I’ll text you the address.”</p><p>She ended the call, texted the address to him, and then set the phone down on the equipment that had replaced the center console in the police-issued vehicle. She took a deep breath, and then turned the engine on and drove into the night.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Lucifer finished his call just in time; his phone was at 1% power when he opened his Five Stars app to arrange for a car to take Eve to the hotel. It powered off almost the second he’d confirmed the ride and he sighed, walking through the penthouse to his bedroom to plug it in before rejoining Maze and Eve in the living room.</p><p>“He’s got a suite waiting for you, and I’ve ordered a ride,” Lucifer said pleasantly, settling on the couch across from the no-longer-dead woman and the demon. “If there’s anything else I can help you with – clothes? Food? – please let me know. It can be difficult getting on your feet when you first arrive. Trust me, I remember.”</p><p>He and Maze exchanged a look and a smirk, Eve glancing curiously between them.</p><p>“Anyway!” Lucifer said, reaching up to fix the top two buttons on his shirt before rising to his feet to retrieve his suit coat from the barstool he’d dumped it on hours before. “We should head down. Wouldn’t want you to miss your ride.”</p><p>“Oh. Oh, yeah, sure,” Eve said, setting her tumbler down on the coffee table and rising.</p><p>“I’ll come, too,” Maze said, eyeballing the empty liquor bottle beside her. “Maybe I can grab some things from the bar downstairs. You have, like, <em>nothing</em> up here, Lucifer.”</p><p>“I had noticed,” Lucifer muttered, making a mental note to double the usual order from their alcohol supplier. It was going to prove impossible to run a successful business if there was no alcohol to sell to thirsty patrons.</p><p>Surprisingly, Maze didn’t immediately peel off from them once the three of them were disgorged by the elevator. She walked along with them, following behind Eve as she and Lucifer wove through the packed club. The bouncers opened the doors for them without a word and the three of them stepped out onto the street, still busy despite the late hour. LA, much like New York City, was slow to slumber once the sun went down and frequently kept going until the sun began peeking over the horizon to start the new day.</p><p>“Sorry I’m not up for more tonight,” Lucifer said, tugging uncomfortably at his cuffs as he acknowledged what a disappointment he must have been for a woman who had literally come back from the grave to have a good time.</p><p>“Yeah, where did my fun Luce go?” Eve teased, giving him a gentle punch on the upper arm to punctuate her question.</p><p>Lucifer did not even attempt to disguise his offense, staring at Eve with an open mouth for a second before protesting, “I’m still fun! You just caught me at a bad time, is all.”</p><p>“A <em>really</em> bad time,” Maze put in, pursing her lips slightly as Eve glanced past Lucifer at the demon.</p><p>“I get it,” Eve said, giving him an out. “Can’t expect the Devil to suddenly make his life all about Eve.”</p><p>“Yeah, not when he’s already making it all about Chloe,” Maze said, and Eve’s brows drew down in a confused frown.</p><p>“Chloe? Who’s that?”</p><p>“Ah, this must be you,” Lucifer said quickly, stepping forward towards the car waiting at the curb in front of Lux, leaving Eve and Maze behind for a moment. Eve caught up quickly, prancing to the door Lucifer opened for her as Maze sauntered up to wait beside Lucifer, her arms crossed over her chest as she smirked faintly. Eve slid into the backseat as Lucifer shut the door behind her, careful not to catch her trailing skirt in it. He crouched down to look in through the open back window, Maze leaning her hip against the trunk of the car as she glanced lazily over at Lucifer and Eve.</p><p>“Thank you for everything,” she said, flashing a soft smile at him as she looked up through her lashes, and Lucifer had to smile back; she was everything he remembered of the delightful woman he had beguiled and seduced thousands of years back.</p><p>“Anything for an old friend,” he said, giving the bottom edge of the window opening a pat as she rose to move to the front of the car, leaning down to address the driver. “Right, get her home safely, all right?”</p><p>But the driver did not match the photograph of the driver he’d managed to catch a glimpse of before his phone powered off, and alarm spiked in him. “Hold on. You’re not Rafael with Five Stars.”</p><p>He was completely unprepared for the driver to suddenly pull a gun and point it into his face, the gun shaking so hard that Lucifer knew the idiot would absolutely shoot him; nervous people with guns were so reliable. The driver turned his head to look at Eve in the backseat, his voice shaking as he demanded, “The necklace! Now!”</p><p>“What the hell?” Maze said, shoving off the bumper and moving around the car in quick, angry strides.</p><p>“Tell me where the necklace is, or I’ll shoot your friend in the face!” the driver shouted, and Eve hitched in a shocked breath.</p><p>“There’s no need to be so rude!” Lucifer snapped, annoyed at the entire process but not worried; after all, he was the Devil. He was invulnerable to human weapons. As long as the gun was aimed at him, there was no real worry about whether or not the driver pulled the trigger.</p><p>Three things happened at the same time: the driver shot Lucifer in the face, a stinging and annoying  inconvenience that knocked him backwards onto the sidewalk in front of Lux and drove him into a brief unconsciousness; Eve shrieked and threw open the back door to leap from the car; and Maze reached through the driver’s side window and hauled the driver out with one hand, the other pulling back to punch him as her face twisted with rage.</p><p>“Lucifer! Oh, my God! Help! Help!” Eve’s panicked shrieks nearly drowned out the sound of the driver’s terrified screams and the sound of his flailing legs kicking against the horn on the steering wheel. It was an awful cacophony to come back to, Lucifer thought as he sucked in a sharp lungful of air and sat up. It was quite like being back home, really.</p><p>Eve’s horrified shrieks cut off like a switch had been thrown, eyes wide and startled like a doe’s, but Lucifer had no time for her just then.</p><p>“Mazikeen!” he called, glaring through the open windows of the car to his right-hand demon. The man was swatting ineffectively at her hands with one of his, although he’d managed to avoid being dragged out of the car entirely. He’d kept one hand on the wheel in a death grip, and unless Maze let go of him to reach in and pry his fingers off the steering wheel, he wasn’t likely to let go.</p><p>“I’ve got him!” she replied, and at that moment, he managed to get a foot down on the accelerator. The sudden forward lurch of the car ripped him from her hands, and he took off down the street in a squeal of tires, struggling to get his upper body back in through the window without removing his foot from the pedal.</p><p>“I had him,” Maze amended, crossing her arms and frowning heavily as she watched the car weaving away.</p><p>“Well,” Lucifer said, standing up and rubbing at his aching cheekbone, annoyed at the gentle headache that was beginning to build behind his eyes. “That was unexpected. And I would <em>love</em> an explanation from <em>you</em>, Eve. We’d better go back upstairs; I obviously can’t let you swan off to the Waldorf <em>now</em>.”</p><p>Eve smiled nervously, but she kept her thoughts to herself as she followed Lucifer back into Lux, Maze following behind her now more like a guard than a member of their entourage.</p><p>Once they were in the privacy of Lucifer’s penthouse, he spun to face Eve. “Well? It’s not every day I get shot in the face over some necklace.”</p><p>“I have no idea who that scary driver was,” Eve said, and Lucifer gave a quick huff of annoyance as he stalked across the living room and jogged up the steps into his bedroom. His phone was by no means fully charged, but it had enough of a charge that he could power it on. He did so out of habit, some small part of him convinced that he needed to call the Detective to tell her about the attempted murder before he remembered that she didn’t <em>want</em> to talk to him. He dropped the phone back on his mattress, turning to look back through the penthouse to where Eve huddled beside the piano, Maze a watchful presence behind her.</p><p>“And the necklace?” he called, making no effort to hide his annoyance.</p><p>“The only necklace I can think of is Pablo’s,” Eve said, not moving a single step closer.</p><p>“And Pablo is…?”</p><p>“The guy who gave me a ride here on his jet?” Eve offered, glancing over her shoulder at Maze. She shuffled forward a few steps, trying to put distance between the demon and herself, but Maze followed with a few slow, stalking steps and Eve turned quickly back to face Lucifer. “On the way over, he kept showing off this really expensive necklace he made.”</p><p>The chiming of incoming messages that Lucifer had missed while his phone had been powered off drew his attention away from Eve. He held up a single finger, asking for a moment, and lifted the phone from the bed, his eyebrows and pulse rising as he saw not only a missed call from the Detective, but also a text with a random address.</p><p>He turned away from the living room to give himself a semblance of privacy as he raised the phone to listen to her message, a faint smile ticking at his mouth as he heard her voice, her tone hesitant and soft.</p><p>“Lucifer, it’s Chloe. We have a case, if you’re interested. I’d…I’d like you to be there to help solve Pablo’s murder, if you’re willing. I’ll text you the address.”</p><p>Well, that explained the random address in the text message…but Lucifer hesitated, lowering the cell as he turned to look at Eve, taking a few steps away from his bed.</p><p>“What did you say the name of the man with the necklace was?”</p><p>“Pablo?” Eve asked, hesitant.</p><p>“I have to go. Maze, keep an eye on her,” Lucifer said, shoving his quarter-charged cell phone into his trouser pocket as he rushed through the penthouse, snagging his jacket from a barstool as he passed it. He was dimly thankful for the extra charge cord he kept in the Corvette for just such moments. He would let Chloe know he was on his way and then plug his mobile in for the drive. He didn’t want to waste another moment waiting for his mobile to get to an acceptable level of charge here in the penthouse. He would deal with Eve later.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. No Rest for the Wicked</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Chloe heard the buzz of her cell as a new text arrived and fought the urge to check it. She was fully aware of how dangerous taking her eyes off the road to read a message could be, so instead she chewed her lip as she waited until it was safe to pull into an empty parking lot outside a big box store that was closed for the night. As soon as she was out of traffic, she lifted her cell phone to see the message.</p><p>
  <em>I’m on my way, Detective.</em>
</p><p>The sudden, hard thumping of her heart made her briefly dizzy before she was able to take a few deep breaths to calm herself down. She had to admit that she’d had absolutely no confidence in his replying to her when she’d called him in the wee hours that morning.  Despite her reassurance that she would contact him when she had a case Dan wasn’t involved in, he had sounded so very final when he’d said good-bye to her. His response gave her hope that maybe she hadn’t completely screwed things up between them.</p><p>Chloe set her phone back down and pulled out once more into the sparse early morning traffic, continuing to the airport. Given her penchant for obeying all posted speed limits and Lucifer’s flouting of those same limits, she was only just getting out of her car outside the hangar when he pulled in beside her, the flashing lights of the uniformed officers’ cars reflecting off his face in pulses as he made his way towards her.</p><p>She could feel the softest background thrum of his worry, but that was it.</p><p>“Lucifer,” she said, tugging her suit jacket closed over her shirt as he stepped up beside her car.</p><p>“Detective. You surprised me with your call. When you left last night, it seemed…unlikely that you would reach out for my expertise again.”</p><p>“I know,” Chloe said softly, shaking her head and frowning a bit. “I know. I’m sorry. I was…I was confused. Upset. I still am, but…but I want you around.”</p><p>Lucifer’s pleasure pulsed over her once, a brief touch of emotion that instantly vanished. The smile on his face was much longer lasting and he stepped a little closer to her as his voice turned business-like. “You said something about a Pablo when you called?”</p><p>“Pablo Silva,” she clarified, quickly dropping into her professional tone as she led the way into the hangar and past the portable scene lighting, skirting the tiny plastic triangles that marked pieces of evidence, heading towards where Ella was working the scene. “Beverly Hills jewelry designer, just back from the Middle East.”</p><p>Ella glanced up from the body, a camera in her hands as she photographed the body in situ. “Cause of death is pretty obvi,” she offered, passing the camera to another crime scene tech so she could free her hands. “Manual strangulation. Not a fun way to go.”</p><p>“Well, it depends on your particular proclivities,” Lucifer said, a smile lighting his face up. “For some, that could be a <em>very</em> fun way to go.”</p><p>“Lucifer,” Chloe muttered, shaking her head as she fought back a smile of relief. They were slipping back into their usual roles at crime scenes, and something tight inside of her began to loosen.</p><p>“He was pretty badly beaten up before he was strangled,” Ella went on, trying to hide her amusement. “Also, I found some pistachio shells under the body, which is <em>so</em> weird because there are <em>no</em> pistachios on the plane. Lots of shrooms, weed, coke…but no nuts.”</p><p>“Mmm!” Lucifer said, humming his appreciation as he cast a thoughtful glance at the plane.</p><p>“No.” Chloe’s voice was firm and she held a single negating finger towards him, making his smile drop.</p><p>“If it’s just going to go to waste – ”</p><p>“No, Lucifer. I didn’t invite you here to party.”</p><p>“More’s the pity,” he murmured in acquiescence, turning his attention away from Chloe to glance around the scene thoughtfully.</p><p>“Who found the body?” Chloe asked, trying to keep her eye on Lucifer while still talking to Ella. The smaller woman grinned, standing up to gesture off to one side.</p><p>“Over there. Toby Golden. He and Pablo here were co-owners of Golden Silva Jewelers.”</p><p>“Thanks, Ella,” Chloe said, giving a distracted smile to her as she headed across the hangar, Lucifer following along behind her.</p><p>“Toby Golden?” Chloe called to the tall, silver-haired man speaking with a uniformed officer. He turned at his name, his expression tense and unhappy.</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>“Detective Decker,” Chloe said, stopping in front of him. “I’m taking over the investigation of Pablo Silva’s murder. I understand you co-owned Golden Silva Jewelers with him?”</p><p>“We built it together from the ground up,” Mr. Golden confirmed. “Pablo handles creative, I handle business.” He hesitated for a second and then blurted, “You haven’t found the necklace yet, have you?”</p><p>“Necklace?” Lucifer asked, stepping up beside Chloe. She glanced up at him, taking in the sharp, predatory expression on his face as he focused on Mr. Golden.</p><p>“Pablo was transporting our latest piece, The Desert Mirage. He finished it in Dubai, and it’s worth $3 million.”</p><p>“Why Dubai?” Chloe asked.</p><p>“It’s where we get our best deals buying gold and diamonds,” Mr. Golden explained.</p><p>“So…you were here to pick him up after he arrived?” Chloe asked.</p><p>“No,” Mr. Golden said, pushing his suit jacket back to rest his hands on his hips. “My assistant and I were prepping for an investors’ meeting and I didn’t hear his voicemail until after we were finished. I came racing down here and…you know, I find him like this.”</p><p>“Voicemail? Can we hear it?” Chloe asked, taking a single step closer. Lucifer followed her, his expression still intense.</p><p>Mr. Golden retrieved his cellphone and tapped the screen a few times, navigating to his voicemail and putting it on speaker. An unfamiliar man’s voice began piping from the small speakers, the tension in his tone unmistakable.</p><p>“Hey, Toby. It’s Pablo. I messed up, man. I’m in some serious debt with these dangerous dudes and I kind of promised to give them The Mirage. They’re on their way over for it, but it’s gone. Someone must have –”</p><p>The man’s voice cut off, distant voices filling the line, speaking in what Chloe thought might be Arabic.</p><p>“Oh, no, they’re already here,” Pablo continued on the message, but that was the last intelligible thing he said. The message cut off a moment later, but not before the sound of muted shouting and a struggle were transmitted.</p><p>“Any idea who these ‘dangerous dudes’ might be?” Lucifer asked, tipping his head slightly as he stared hard at Mr. Golden.</p><p>“No, I-I didn’t even know he was in any kind of trouble until this!” Mr. Golden said, lifting his phone to indicate what ‘this’ he meant.</p><p>“Do you know anyone who speaks Arabic?” Chloe asked.</p><p>“A lot of our business associates,” Mr. Golden confessed with a small, helpless shrug.</p><p>“Really? Great. Okay, we’ll need a list of those people,” Chloe said, and Lucifer reached out a single graceful hand, gently moving Chloe back a step as he moved close to Mr. Golden, catching his eyes.</p><p>Chloe sighed softly, pressing her lips tightly as she realized what Lucifer was about to do. She could feel the intensity of his focus pouring off of him, vibrating in her head like a tuning fork, and she fought the urge to raise her hands to press them against her forehead. It’s not like doing that helped with the wash of his emotions, but it was hard as hell to resist doing it anyway.</p><p>“Mr. Golden,” he purred, stepping into the man’s personal space and staring hard into his eyes. Mr. Golden froze, his face going slack at he stared back into Lucifer’s eyes. “It’s quite obvious how much you want your property returned to you. But what else are you longing for? Tell me, Mr. Golden: what do you truly desire?”</p><p>Mr. Golden’s mouth twitched, his eyes unfocused as they stared into Lucifer’s. Chloe shifted from one foot to the other, watching Toby Golden coming to pieces under the intensity of Lucifer’s focus. She could feel the waves rolling off of Lucifer for the first time, an intense, compelling push that made her <em>want</em> to help him. She cleared her throat and took a step backwards, taking her eyes off of Lucifer’s profile.</p><p>“I-I want…” Mr. Golden said, his voice breathy and hesitant.</p><p>“Go on,” Lucifer encouraged, his low, purring words almost making Chloe shiver with the push to answer.</p><p>“I want Pablo to suffer for everything he’s cost me. I want him to hurt, and I want to be the one hurting him. That’s why…why I strangled him with my bare hands.”</p><p>“Oh.” Lucifer sounded stunned, taking a step back as he broke eye contact, glancing over his shoulder at Chloe. She was already drawing her gun, Lucifer’s mojo disappearing from her awareness like a drop of water sliding off the back of her hand.</p><p>“Toby Golden, you are under arrest for the murder of Pablo Silva,” Chloe said, her voice carrying in the hangar, drawing the attention of other nearby officers. A uni was already on his way over to assist with the arrest and Lucifer spoke quickly.</p><p>“But what about The Desert Mirage? Where is it?”</p><p>Mr. Golden looked stunned, like he had not fully processed what he’d just admitted to a police detective in a hangar full of uniformed officers. “I…I already said, I have no idea. It was gone before I got here. After that voicemail…I rushed down here and found him beaten up and The Mirage <em>gone</em>. I just…I got so <em>angry</em>.”</p><p>Chloe was having trouble focusing. Lucifer’s control on his emotions was fraying, and she could feel frustration and a thin sliver of panic pushing through.</p><p>“I’m sorry, Detective, but I have to go,” he said, already moving away.</p><p>“Lucifer, wait! What – Lucifer!” Her protests fell on deaf ears; he was hurrying across the hanger and out through the huge double doors, leaving Chloe behind with the crime scene as the uni marched the cuffed Toby Golden away.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Lucifer drove home in the rising sun, his annoyance at the situation with Eve competing with his annoyance at the brilliant morning sun. It was a relief to pull into his personal underground garage at Lux, cutting off the piercing rays of light.</p><p>The club had closed long since and even the cleaning crew had finished their work; no one was downstairs as Lucifer hurried through the big, open room on his way to the elevator to his personal penthouse.</p><p>He found himself impatiently tapping an index finger on the elevator’s polished wooden grab bars as it rose slowly to the penthouse. As soon as the doors slid open, he was storming into the penthouse, Eve’s name on his lips, his lungs filling as he prepared to bellow it.</p><p>Maze was waiting when he came out of the elevator, though, and immediately lifted a single finger to her lips before pointing across the living room to Eve, asleep on the leather couch. Lucifer’s upper lip curved in a frustrated snarl but he spoke in a whisper. “Pablo Silva is dead. The Detective already has the murderer in custody, but we have to figure out who is looking for the necklace or Eve is likely to end up dead again before she has a chance to enjoy being in the 21<sup>st</sup> century.”</p><p>Maze frowned, glancing back at the sleeping woman on the couch before turning her attention back to Lucifer and crossing her arms over her chest.</p><p>“Tell me everything.”</p><p>It didn’t take him more than a minute to run through the limited evidence that had been collected at the crime scene in the time he’d been there. Maze listened with a thoughtful expression, her eyes narrowed as she stared off at nothing, obviously thinking hard.</p><p>“You said there were pistachio shells under the body. Wasn’t there some enforcer you mentioned a few years back? You did a favor for his boss…”</p><p>“Bashir Al-Fassad. Yes, his enforcer, Turkish Pete, was forever eating pistachios!” Lucifer smiled widely. “Clever Maze. Well done! I suppose I’ll have to pay him a visit today.”</p><p>“I suggest you try to get a nap before you go anywhere,” Maze said, raising her eyebrows. “You’re no good at intimidation when you’re drooling down your chin because you’re too tired to remember to swallow your own spit.”</p><p>“Lovely,” Lucifer muttered, but he knew she was right. With Eve asleep on the couch, she was safe enough. He would get everything sorted so she could enjoy her new life on Earth, but first he would try to catch up on some of the sleep he was missing.</p><p>The trill of his cellphone woke him three hours later and he groaned softly, reaching out blindly to grab the phone. He pulled it towards him, jerking the charger right out of the wall socket to thump against his mattress. He dragged a hand over his face and forced himself to sit up, lifting the phone to peer blearily at the screen and the text message from Maze that had woken him.</p><p>
  <em>I contacted Al-Fassad for you. He’ll meet you at his house in two hours.</em>
</p><p>“No rest for the wicked,” Lucifer murmured, rising from his bed and reaching for his robe.</p><p>“Did you say something?”</p><p>Eve’s voice made him give a little start, and he turned towards her. She was still in the same white dress that she’d had on the night before, although her thick, dark hair hung heavy and damp as if she’d taken a shower recently.</p><p>“Eve,” he said, shrugging his robe on and tying it quickly. “Does the name Bashir Al-Fassad mean anything to you?”</p><p>“Oh, Pablo said his name!” Eve said, stepping up the short rise into Lucifer’s bedroom, her bare toes flexing against the cool floor once she was in his bedroom proper. “He said the necklace he made was for him! You know him?”</p><p>“Yes,” Lucifer said, sighing the word. “He calls himself the Concierge of Crime. If Bashir thinks you’ve taken something from him, then he’ll stop at nothing to get it back.”</p><p>“But…I don’t have his necklace,” Eve protested, her brows furrowing as she looked up at Lucifer, her voice meek.</p><p>“Fortunately, Maze has made an appointment for us with Bashir in a couple of hours. I’ll order a takeout for breakfast and then grab a shower, and we’ll be on our way.”</p><p>Eve tense expression immediately brightened and she nodded. “Okay! Great.”</p><p>“Let’s get this sorted so things can get back to normal,” Lucifer muttered, skirting around Eve as he made his way into the living room. He did not see the disappointment on her face at his words.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>“Lucifer!” Bashir’s greeting was enthusiastic and effusive, the shorter man throwing his arms wide as Lucifer and Eve followed the housekeeper into an open, airy living room decorated with large potted plants and gold accents. “So good to see you, my friend!”</p><p>Bashir was a whip-thin man in his mid-50s, his short, neat beard beginning to become accented with streaks of white, although his thick, curly hair was still the dark brown he’d sported his entire life. He dressed expensively, his clothing of a cut and quality Lucifer was very familiar with.</p><p>“To what do I owe the pleasure of this morning visit?” Bashir asked.</p><p>Lucifer was opening his mouth to respond when a young man with a mulish expression walked up, carrying a drink. Lucifer recognized him instantly and his temper spiked as he reached a hand up to press the still-tender spot on his cheek where he’d been shot by this same young man the night before.</p><p>“Uncle, I added more mint this time.” The young man’s eyes ticked up to Lucifer and Eve and alarm overtook his expression in a split second. “What the…?! I shot you in the face!”</p><p>“It didn’t take,” Lucifer said, forcing a smile as he narrowed his eyes at the young man.</p><p>“George!” Bashir snapped, gesturing with the hand not holding his fresh drink. “What have I told you? No more shooting without my permission!”</p><p>“I was trying to get your necklace back!” George protested. “And this lady was –”</p><p>“Wait a second,” Bashir interrupted, turning away from George to focus on Eve. “You’re that woman from the plane!”</p><p>“That’s why we’re here, Bashir,” Lucifer said, taking his attention away from George, the incompetent henchman, to focus on the true power in the room.</p><p>“Yes! I don’t have your necklace,” Eve said, smiling brilliantly.</p><p>“So, how about you leave her be and we’ll consider your debt to me paid,” Lucifer said.</p><p>Bashir’s face darkened. “I want The Desert Mirage. It was supposed to be a gift for my wife.” Bashir smiled, but the expression did not reach his eyes. “The things we do for our women, right?”</p><p>Bashir nodded at Eve, who brightened considerably as she glanced up at Lucifer through her lashes.</p><p>“What, <em>her?</em>” Lucifer asked, taken aback. “No, no, no. We’re not <em>together</em>-together. And, Bashir, I don’t think you’re understanding what I’m saying.”</p><p>“Lucifer,” Bashir began, his voice reasonable despite the sharp expression in his eyes.</p><p>Lucifer took a step closer to the other man, his eyes intense as he met Bashir’s stare without flinching. “I am calling in the debt you owe me. I gave you a favor…and now I am calling it due.”</p><p>There was a long, silent moment as they glared at one another and Lucifer could feel the slow simmer of fury beginning to build in him. He had no desire to force the issue with Bashir, but he absolutely would if it was necessary to keep Eve safe in her new human existence.</p><p>But Bashir blinked, looking away from Lucifer. He took a sip of his drink, inclined his head to George and murmured, “Better, George.” He took a breath before looking back at Lucifer and giving a single, sharp nod.</p><p>“You’ll leave Eve alone? She doesn’t have your necklace, anyway, so it shouldn’t be that hard for you to remove her from whatever murderous equation you’re working on.”</p><p>“Yes, yes,” Bashir said, turning away. “If that was all you needed this morning, I am a very busy man.”</p><p>“And we have things to do, as well,” Lucifer said agreeably, putting a hand on Eve’s lower back and steering her back towards the front door.</p><p>“Oh! Thank you!” Eve called back over her shoulder as Lucifer moved her out and towards his car.</p><p>They were ten minutes out from Bashir’s house when Eve asked, “So…what do we do now?”</p><p>“We?” Lucifer asked. “Nothing. You’re free to continue your new life without people pulling guns on you. Well, at least not any more than would normally happen in a human life.”</p><p>“Oh,” Eve said, not trying to hide her dismay. “You’re…kicking me out?”</p><p>“Hardly!” Lucifer scoffed, and Eve perked up a bit. “I’m giving you back your freedom but you’ll always be welcome. You’re an old friend, right?”</p><p>“Right,” Eve agreed, slumping slightly in her seat. She was silent for a moment, brushing locks of her thick hair back as the air of their travel kicked it around her face in a tangle. “The thing is, you and Maze are really the only ones I know here. I have no idea what I’m supposed to do next.”</p><p>“Oh, well…” Lucifer tapped a finger against the steering wheel as he considered. “There are all kinds of experiences a beautiful woman can have if she’s open to them. There are all the usual things: dancing, drinking, sex, drugs…those can fill several years with joyous debauchery. Once you’ve had your fill of them, I suppose you could always try getting a job.”</p><p>“A job?” Eve repeated, sounding numb.</p><p>“There are plenty of interesting jobs. Look at Maze: she hunts people for money.”</p><p>“Oh! That’s a job?” Eve asked, perking up.</p><p>“You’ll need to ask Maze about it, but she seems to enjoy it. I, obviously, run Lux and also help the police with murder investigations from time to time. It seemed a logical duty for the Devil to take on: catching and punishing the wicked.” Lucifer tossed Eve a pleased smirk before turning his attention back to traffic. “The point is, there are unlimited options for you now that you’re living in the 21<sup>st</sup> century, Eve. Don’t limit yourself to just one thing!”</p><p>“I think…I think maybe right now I’m just worried about being out on my own. I mean, I’ve literally never been alone in my entire life, you know? I was made for someone…and he was always there. I definitely want to know what it’s like to be on my own and living my own life, but maybe…not right now?” Eve finished with a squeak that made her statement a question, and Lucifer’s face tightened into a vaguely sympathetic moue.</p><p>“I suppose I can see that being a bit intimidating. Well, you don’t have to leave for the Waldorf immediately. I called Pierre when the whole shooting-in-the-face thing happened and let him know I was cancelling the room for now but would need it later. We can get you into it in a few days. Why don’t you stick around and enjoy Lux as my guest?”</p><p>“Really?” Eve’s entire face lit up, her huge hazel eyes almost seeming to shine with excitement. She reached out to give Lucifer’s arm a little squeeze as she wriggled with joy in the passenger seat. “That would be so great!”</p><p>“I’ll be in and out as my schedule allows,” Lucifer said, feeling very proud of himself for making such a magnanimous offer. “I don’t usually have a lot of warning when the Detective calls to get my assistance. Of course, she can’t predict when a murderer is going to strike.”</p><p>“She?” Eve asked, far too casually.</p><p>“Mmm,” Lucifer murmured. “Well! Let’s get you settled back in, hmm? Speaking of the Detective, I should check in with her.”</p><p>“Great,” Eve said, the word sounding like she meant anything but. Lucifer, however, was already distracted with the possibility of seeing Chloe soon and did not notice the frustrated expression crossing over Eve’s pretty face as she considered him from the passenger seat, her dark hair whipping around her in a maelstrom.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Lucifer's on the Case Now</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Dan walked into the precinct after dropping Trixie off at school, he felt a faint tingle of guilt at seeing Chloe's desk still unoccupied. Of course, that sometimes happened in the early-morning call outs, and he shouldn't beat himself up for the luxury of two more hours of sleep plus getting to chat with his daughter that morning while Chloe was dealing with witness statements, red tape, and paperwork. Their “pick a number” system was, if nothing else, fair.</p>
<p>Dan crossed the bullpen to his desk, setting a To-Go cardboard cup onto the top as he turned his computer on, setting everything up for the day ahead.</p>
<p>Movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention and he glanced over to see a tall, solemn-looking bald man with a beard that was well on its way to being fully Santa Claus-white. He was hovering near Chloe's desk, hands clasped at his waist as he stared down at the empty desk chair. He was dressed in all black except the white at his collar marking him as a priest, and he looked unhappy at not finding Chloe at her desk. Dan had seen him talking with Chloe a couple of times in the last few days and wondered if he was assisting in a case…perhaps even a source of information on the priest murders they’d been working on.</p>
<p>“Can I help you, Father?” Dan asked, waking over to the priest. The other man turned, a polite smile tipping his lips up.</p>
<p>“I was hoping to speak to Detective Decker,” the man said. “I'm Father William Kinley.”</p>
<p>“Detective Dan Espinoza,” Dan said, holding his hand out. They shook as Dan explained, “Chloe is out right now, but maybe I can help you. What were you wanting to talk with her about?”</p>
<p>Father Kinley gave Dan a polite smile as he stepped back. “I doubt you can help me, Detective Espinoza. I'm beginning to think even Detective Decker can't help me, and time is running short.”</p>
<p>“Hey, you can't know if I can help unless you tell me a little about the problem,” Dan said encouragingly, opening his arms in a casual shrug, a grin tipping up one corner of his mouth.</p>
<p>The priest hesitated, looking torn. “Perhaps you could talk to her for me, encourage her to get in contact with me before time is up.”</p>
<p>“Sure. Just give me some details.”</p>
<p>“It's to do with someone she knows…Lucifer Morningstar.”</p>
<p>Dan clenched his jaw at the name, his ever-present anger at Lucifer boiling to the top. “What has he done <em>now?</em>”</p>
<p>“Ah…you know him?” Father Kinley asked.</p>
<p>“Unfortunately. That guy is bad news, and life would be so much better for <em>everyone</em> if he was gone.” Dan's voice was tight with barely contained anger, but Father Kinley didn't seem frightened by it. He stepped closer to Dan, resting a single warm, gentle hand on the other man's shoulder.</p>
<p>“You've no idea how right you are, Detective Espinoza.” He paused for a moment, his expression turning thoughtful. “Is there anywhere we could speak more privately?”</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>What with the arrest, the body, and the evidence around the body and in the plane, it was almost 11am by the time Chloe had wrapped up everything at the scene and was able to leave the hangar. She climbed into her car with a soft sigh, reaching her hands up to rub them over her face. She knew she needed to get back to the precinct, but what she <em>wanted</em> was to go by Lux and check on Lucifer. It wasn’t normal for him to rush out of a crime scene halfway through questioning their suspect. She didn’t expect him to stick around for the entire boring process, but he didn’t usually leave <em>quite</em> so early.</p>
<p>Chloe glanced at the time on her phone, tapping it against the top of her thigh as she mentally debated with herself on the plusses and minuses of taking a little longer to get back to the precinct. She had to admit to herself, though, that seeing Lucifer again was much more tempting than the paperwork waiting for her.</p>
<p>Decision made, Chloe turned the engine on and headed for Lux.</p>
<p>During the day, the club was considerably less impressive. No line of hopefuls out front, no bouncers standing silent and intimidating by the doors, no air of barely-contained excitement thrumming through the interior. Instead, it seemed smaller. It was still beautiful inside, the wood and leather and gold just as eye-catching as they would’ve been in the dimness of the evening buzz, but there was none of the indescribable thrill that usually accompanied stepping into Lux.</p>
<p>Chloe was surprised to see Lucifer standing at the downstairs bar, pen in hand and a brooding expression on his face as he stared down at several sheets of paper on the bar top.</p>
<p>“Lucifer!” she said, heading down the steps into the club proper. “I didn’t expect to find you downstairs.”</p>
<p>“Detective,” Lucifer said, turning with surprise on his face – and in her head. His surprise and pleasure filled her mind for second before he clamped down on it with a lowering of his eyebrows and a faint frown, leaving only her own emotions inside of her. He turned to face her fully, relaxing his expression, but his emotions did not seep back into her awareness. He was getting better at this. “What are you doing here? Not that the surprise is necessarily an unpleasant one.”</p>
<p>“I wanted to check on you,” Chloe confessed. “You rushed out of the crime scene so suddenly earlier this morning…I just wanted to make sure everything was okay.”</p>
<p>“Of course,” Lucifer said, smiling widely as he set his pen down on the papers beside him. “I just had some personal business that needed my attention.”</p>
<p>Chloe walked up to the bar and leaned an elbow on top of it, relaxing. Lucifer’s smile grew even wider as he looked down at her before lifting the tumbler of dark liquid resting on the bar beside his elbow. “Can I offer you a drink, Detective?”</p>
<p>“I’m on duty,” she said with a little laugh.</p>
<p>“Can’t blame a Devil for trying to tempt you into a little naughtiness,” Lucifer almost purred, sliding a little closer to her, the paperwork on the bar top forgotten. “Perhaps there’s something else you’d be interested in.”</p>
<p>Chloe couldn’t stop her laugh at his outrageous flirting, and she reached up to press one hand against his chest to stop his forward progress. “Nice try, Lucifer. I’m only here to make sure you’re okay.”</p>
<p>“Better now that you’re here,” he admitted, raising one hand to press it gently over hers where it still rested against his chest, pressing her palm lightly against the smooth cotton of his button-up shirt. Chloe couldn’t resist the urge to smooth her fingertips over the material, feeling the smooth plain of his pec beneath the material as she did so. A faint flush crept up her cheeks as she realized what she was doing, and she glanced up at him.</p>
<p>His smile had softened, the lack of teasing in his face leaving his expression somehow more open. His other hand lifted, fingertips trailing very gently through her ponytail where the tail of it hung over her shoulder. His dark eyes didn’t leave her gaze for even a second as his hand left off tugging gently at her hair to press against the side of her face, cupping her jaw in the warmth of his palm.</p>
<p>“Detective,” he murmured, his voice stroking over her much as his thumb was now stroking her lower lip. He began to lean down and Chloe’s eyes closed, her chin tipping up to welcome to kiss they both knew was coming.</p>
<p>The sound of the elevator doors sliding open and a female voice hit Chloe like ice water thrown into her face.</p>
<p>“Hey, Luce, I was wondering if – oh! Oh, I’m…”</p>
<p>Chloe fairly jumped back from Lucifer, tugging her suit jacket closed over her chest like she was stealing on armor as she turned towards the unfamiliar woman stepping out of the elevator that led up to Lucifer’s private penthouse.</p>
<p>“I didn’t realize you had company,” Chloe said, already backing towards the stairs that led to the door out of Lux.</p>
<p>“Detective, wait,” Lucifer began, but Chloe has turned her back to him and was hauling herself up the stairs as fast as her legs would work.</p>
<p>“No, it’s fine. I have to get back to work. I’ll see you later, Lucifer,” she said, and then she was out the door and rushing towards her car, mentally kicking herself for being so stupid yet again.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>The heat of rising passion was perfectly happy to turn to a different heat, Lucifer found, as his anger began to simmer at the interruption and Chloe’s speedy departure. He turned towards Eve, his lips curling into a frustrated snarl.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry,” Eve said, her voice soft. “Maze offered to let me ride along on a local bounty, and I wondered if you had any plans for us for the rest of the day.”</p>
<p>Lucifer took a deep breath, rolling his shoulders to encourage the anger away. It was hardly Eve’s fault that Chloe was as skittish as a deer when it came to matters of the heart.</p>
<p>“No, I don’t have any plans,” Lucifer said. “Please, feel free to enjoy the city with Maze. I can’t imagine a better guide to introduce you to all the pleasures of LA.”</p>
<p>“Okay,” Eve said, but she didn’t step back into the elevator. She reached down to twitch her fingers at the airy white material of her skirt, stepping further into Lux and closer to Lucifer. He reached down to pick up the pen he’d been using earlier, finishing the alcohol order waiting on the bar and adding his signature to the bottom with a flourish. “So…who was that?”</p>
<p>“The Detective,” Lucifer said softly, capping the pen and stacking the paperwork neatly. “Detective Chloe Decker with the LAPD. She’s who I work with when I’m helping punish the guilty.”</p>
<p>“She’s pretty,” Eve offered, stepping down to the bar to stand near Lucifer, her expression hesitant.</p>
<p>“Mmm, indeed.”</p>
<p>“She ran out pretty quickly, though. Is she not comfortable with…uh…company…uh…” Eve trailed off, obviously unsure how to phrase the question.</p>
<p>“She’s not the sharing type,” Lucifer confirmed.</p>
<p>“That’s surprising,” Eve said, crossing her forearms on the bar and leaning over them, the fingertips of one hand playing lightly with the pen he’d discarded on the bar. “I mean, that you would be interested in someone like that.” At his startled look, she added, “C’mon, Luce. I <em>know</em> you; It’s kind of obvious when you’re interested in someone.”</p>
<p>Lucifer sighed, reaching out to grab his suit jacket from a nearby barstool so he could shrug into it, giving the cuffs neatening tugs as he settled the jacket in place. “Yes, well…the Detective is rather one-of-a-kind.” He quickly pasted a smile on, turning to Eve. “I don’t want to keep you from your day of entertainment with Maze. Please, enjoy yourselves.”</p>
<p>Besides, he was determined not to let the Detective run away that easily. He would go to the precinct and explain that Eve was an old friend and a temporary penthouseguest. Once she knew who Eve was, surely she would get over her completely unnecessary discomfort.</p>
<p>“Oh. Right.” Eve straightened up, smiling uncertainly. “And maybe this evening, you can show me a good time at Lux?”</p>
<p>Lucifer was already moving away, but he gave Eve a quick smile over his shoulder. “It’s a date.”</p>
<p>He did not see the way her entire face brightened or how she nearly skipped to the elevator to go back to the penthouse and Maze. He was already focused like a bloodhound on getting back to the Detective and making her understand.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>“Hey, Chloe!” Ella’s voice hailed her as she was walking down the steps into the bullpen and Chloe turned towards the forensic scientist as Ella hurried over to her. “I got the results back!”</p>
<p>“Results?” Chloe asked, her brain still stuck on how <em>stupid</em> she was to think that giving in to her attraction to Lucifer was a good idea. Every time – <em>every single time</em> – she let her guard down around him, she got a sharp reminder of what a bad idea it was. It was almost like some cosmic force was trying to look out for her better interest or something.</p>
<p>Ella hurried up to Chloe, and Chloe forced her mind to stop churning over Lucifer and the beautiful dark-haired woman that had been up in his penthouse and focused on her friend and coworker who was even now powering on a tablet she held.</p>
<p>“It’s definitely devilsbane, but different amounts were used on the two victims,” Ella said, tapping the screen of a tablet she held, pulling up graphs of results to show Chloe. “The first vic was given a huge dose. He probably died pretty quickly. Maybe less than two hours after ingestion. The second victim suffered for <em>hours</em>, though  There was evidence in his personal room that he’d been suffering for a while before he succumbed…the vomit, obvi. But he also had more pronounced bruising on his wrists, meaning he struggled more and for longer while he was bound. I’m guessing that whoever is doing this isn’t just trying to kill priests: he’s trying to maximize their suffering.”</p>
<p>Chloe frowned heavily at the words. “I’ll start working on a warning to send out to all the local Catholic churches, then. They need to know to be cautious for a while.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, probably a good idea,” Ella agreed, powering off the tablet and tucking it under her arm. “This is an ugly way to go: numbness, nausea, vomiting, sweating, dizziness, bradycardia, breathing difficulties…honestly, we’re lucky this is devilsbane instead of the more common wolfsbane. It stays in the system longer; that’s the only way we’ve been able to track down the poison. Wolfsbane is pretty hard to track down, once the body metabolizes it.”</p>
<p>“Thanks, Ella,” Chloe said. “I’m gonna get to work on the warning for the churches.”</p>
<p>“Yup!” Ella chirped, turning to head back to the lab. Chloe had managed to take a couple of steps deeper into the bullpen towards her desk when another voice stopped her.</p>
<p>“Decker!” Acting-Lieutenant Matheson called from the open door of her office. Chloe immediately changed course.</p>
<p>“Yes, ma’am,” Chloe said, hurrying towards to summons, tugging at her suit jacket as she approached Matheson.</p>
<p>“Where’s Espinoza?”</p>
<p>“Oh. I don’t know, ma’am. I only got into the precinct from my early-morning case about twenty minutes ago,” Chloe said, glancing back towards Dan’s empty desk.</p>
<p>“Then <em>you</em> take this,” Matheson said, thrusting a file towards Chloe. “Another priest. Are either of you making any headway on these cases? The LAPD is going to start looking bad if bodies keep piling up like this.”</p>
<p>“We’re working on it, ma’am,” Chloe promised, taking the file and trying to avoid making a face. A third priest…as much as she had been expecting it, the news still hit her like a punch to the gut. “I’ll let Dan know and we’ll get on our way to the scene.”</p>
<p>“Get me some leads, Detective,” Matheson called as she turned back into her office, her heels clicking as she walked back to her desk. Chloe sighed and headed towards her desk once more, pulling her cellphone from her hip pocket and scrolling to Dan’s number. She brought it up to her ear and waited as the call rang out. And waited. And waited.</p>
<p>“Dan Espinoza’s phone. Leave a message.”</p>
<p>Chloe frowned faintly, but gamely began speaking after the beep. “Dan, it’s Chloe. We have another priest murder. I’ll text you the address and catch you up when you get there.”</p>
<p>She ended the call, sent the text, and then hesitated, chewing her lip. If she left without getting some kind of confirmation from Dan that he had the information and would be meeting her as soon as possible, he could miss the entire scene and she’d have to play catch-up with him later on. Of course, if she waited until Dan got back to her, the scene could be left with only unis and crime scene techs for far too long.</p>
<p>Chloe made up her mind, sending Dan one more quick text to tell him she was leaving for the scene now and she’d catch him up later, and turned to leave the precinct.</p>
<p>She nearly bumped into Lucifer as he stepped down into the bullpen from the stairs leading up to other parts of the precinct.</p>
<p>“Lucifer!”</p>
<p>“Detective. Good. I wanted to explain –”</p>
<p>“I really don’t have time right now. I just got a body –”</p>
<p>“Then I’ll ride along,” Lucifer said decisively. Chloe opened her mouth to argue but from the set of his jaw, she could tell this wasn’t a fight she was going to win. Not today.</p>
<p>“Fine,” she said, the word bitten off.</p>
<p>“Lovely,” Lucifer said, his expression immediately lightening as he followed her.</p>
<p>He waited until they were in her car in the underground parking garage before he said, “It <em>really</em> wasn’t what it looked like.”</p>
<p>“Lucifer, I have said again and again that your sex life is none of my business,” Chloe began, her voice patient and long-suffering, but Lucifer cut in.</p>
<p>“She’s an old friend. She’s just arrived in LA and she had nowhere to stay.”</p>
<p>“Oh,” Chloe said, thrown.</p>
<p>“I knew Eve several thousand years ago, and her arrival in LA was quite a surprise to me. She’s learning about the modern world, and I could hardly kick her into the streets to fend her herself.”</p>
<p>“Several <em>thousand</em> years ago?” Chloe asked, looking over at him in disbelief. “Wait…Eve. <em>Eve</em>, as in…?”</p>
<p>“Adam and,” Lucifer agreed.</p>
<p>“That was <em>Eve?</em>” Chloe asked, her voice going up an octave in shock.</p>
<p>“And I’m Lucifer,” he said drily, and Chloe leaned forward to rest her forehead on the steering wheel, shock tingling through her body in waves as she tried to adjust to this new cant of the world as she knew it.</p>
<p>“Yeah. I…I know. Of course. Sorry. It’s just…it still hasn’t fully sunk in, I guess. Every time I think I get it, something else kicks my legs out from under me.” Chloe sat up, turning the car on and pulling out of her spot, maneuvering through the series of one-way lanes towards the exit of the garage. “So…Eve is staying with the Devil temporarily while she gets used to life in a new century. What, did Heaven get boring?”</p>
<p>“Apparently, yes,” Lucifer said. “Unsurprising for any of us who’ve ever had to spend any significant amount of time there.”</p>
<p>Chloe opened her mouth but nothing came out, and she shut it a second later, focusing on steering them through the traffic on the street outside the precinct.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry she surprised you earlier,” Lucifer offered, and Chloe quickly shook her head.</p>
<p>“Don’t apologize. It’s…fine. I get it.”</p>
<p>Lucifer hesitated, obviously unsure of how to proceed, and his voice became business-like as he asked, “Tell me about this case?”</p>
<p>“Right. Of course. Uh…this is the third priest in the greater LA area to be poisoned,” Chloe said, and Lucifer’s eyebrows immediately climbed.</p>
<p>“Someone is murdering <em>priests?</em> Have you checked into any altar boys for motive?”</p>
<p>“Lucifer,” Chloe said, the word a reprimand. He held both hands palm-up towards Chloe.</p>
<p>“Sorry, Detective. Continue.”</p>
<p>“They’re being poisoned with something called devilsbane –”</p>
<p>“<em>What?</em>” There was no amusement in Lucifer’s voice this time. Chloe’s eyes jerked from the traffic unbidden at his tone, so dark and so chilling that Chloe felt like curling in on herself protectively. She was unsurprised to see that there was a faint orange glow emanating from his normally dark eyes, sparkling like embers in the depths. The burn of his anger tingling through her mind made her want to scamper and gibber like a small animal that was being hunted, but she pulled herself together with an effort. He was not angry at <em>her</em>; she would not fall to pieces just because the <em>Devil</em> was sitting next to her and building up into a boiling temper.</p>
<p>“Have you heard of it?” she asked, her voice unusually small.</p>
<p>“Very many times,” he said. “Very poisonous, even to me. Deadly to humans.”</p>
<p>“It could kill you?” Chloe asked, alarming shooting through her.</p>
<p>“No, Detective, though it would definitely slow me down considerably. It is probably the only thing on this planet that can harm celestials. Just a little quirk of humor dear old Dad decided to throw in. Can’t have us thinking we’re <em>too</em> invincible, after all.”</p>
<p>“Celestials? You mean…angels?” Chloe asked, confused. “But it’s called ‘devilsbane.’”</p>
<p>“<em>We</em> didn’t name it,” Lucifer pointed out tartly, his mouth pinching in slightly with distaste. “You humans did that all on your own. It’s a poisonous plant which has the unfortunate effect of causing discomfort and temporary unconsciousness in celestials who are exposed to it, just as effective on archangels as devils.” He cast her a quick, wry look.</p>
<p>“Okay. Okay, well, it’s definitely been killing the priests that have been ingesting it. None of them have given any indication that they’re suicidal, but no one is claiming these kills yet. We’re operating on the belief that they’ve been poisoned rather than that it was self-administered based on the fact that there is evidence their wrists were bound before they succumbed.”</p>
<p>“It makes no sense to be poisoning priests with devilsbane…unless someone mistakenly believes they’re possessed by demons,” Lucifer added with a scoff.</p>
<p>“Demon possession isn’t real?” Chloe asked, curious.</p>
<p>“Oh, it’s real enough,” Lucifer said. “But I forbade it decades back. No demons would test me by possessing anyone, let alone priests.”</p>
<p>“Okay, but these were priests questioning their faith. Wouldn’t that be…I don’t know, extra tempting for a demon?” Chloe asked.</p>
<p>“No,” Lucifer said, chuckling. “No, not hardly.”</p>
<p>“Also, Lucifer, you’ve kind of been away from Hell for a while, haven’t you? Are you sure that there aren’t any demons that might, I don’t know, take a day trip to look for you?”</p>
<p>“And have the bad luck to be found by someone with an exceptionally rare poison on hand who could recognize a demon possession, bind the demon, and force it to ingest the poison and perform the necessary rituals to send a demon back to Hell?”</p>
<p>“Okay, yeah, I’m reaching,” Chloe admitted, sighing. “I just…I’m getting a little desperate. This is murder number three, and our new acting-Lieutenant is putting pressure on me to find some workable leads in this ongoing case.”</p>
<p>“Not to worry, Detective,” Lucifer said, casting her a confident smile as he settled more comfortably into the passenger seat. “Lucifer’s on the case now.”</p>
<p>It became painfully obvious that Lucifer’s confidence was misplaced once they arrived at the tiny apartment that victim number three, Father Aaron Lake, had lived at until his recent demise. The scene was as devoid of information as the first two had been, and the Father had only been discovered when a parishioner had come by to seek guidance.</p>
<p>The parishioner, an elderly gentleman by the name of Roger Hamblin, was getting oxygen at the back of an ambulance when Chloe and Lucifer walked up to the scene. A uniform caught them up on the facts of the case: Roger had apparently found the front door of the residence slightly ajar and had walked in to find the Father’s body and immediately suffered a mild heart attack. The ambulance had arrived before the police, and the EMS team admitted they might have damaged the scene in their haste to treat Mr. Hamblin.</p>
<p>The crime scene techs were already inside the apartment, trying to comb for any remaining evidence, but it was looking like the third scene would be the least useful of all the murder sites, given that the emergency techs had not only disturbed the scene but also Father Lake’s body when they first arrived to find two men on the ground of the apartment after a 911 call.</p>
<p>“Mr. Hamblin?” Chloe asked, walking up to the elderly man hunched in the back of the ambulance, his legs dangling off the back ledge. An emergency tech was holding an oxygen mask to the older man’s face and removed it only once Chloe introduced herself as the detective in charge of the case. “Can you tell me about what you saw when you first arrived?”</p>
<p>“Of course,” Mr. Hamblin said, his voice weak and trembling. The tech stayed beside him, watchful and obviously ready to put the oxygen back in place at a moment’s notice. “As I told the other officer, the door was open just a little bit when I first got here, like someone thought they’d closed it but it didn’t quite take. Father Lake’s door has always been a bit stiff to open and shut. If you aren’t familiar with it, you don’t know you need to almost slam it to make it behave.”</p>
<p>“I know lots of people who need a little firm treatment to behave,” Lucifer murmured in an aside, and Chloe elbowed him gently in the ribs to silence him.</p>
<p>“Go on, Mr. Hamblin,” she encouraged. The old man gave her a watery smile.</p>
<p>“I saw Father Lake on the floor when I pushed the door open, lying on his back. T-there was…he’d thrown up. It was near him. His face was…was…he looked like he was in pain. I called to him, but he didn’t respond. I got down to the floor beside him and realized he was…was gone.” Tears spilled over Mr. Hamblin’s cheeks and he reached up a veined and shaking hand to brush them away. “He’s been my priest for almost fifteen years. He’s been the best priest I’ve ever had…I like to think his questioning nature was what made it possible for him to help others overcome their own doubts.”</p>
<p>“He was questioning his faith?” Chloe asked, although it was more by rote than because she had any doubts that Father Aaron Lake would fit the criteria of the recent murders.</p>
<p>“He’d always been the type to question,” Mr. Hamblin said, smiling. “He told us that his questions made it possible for him to dig for the answers that we might need from him rather than giving us the usual pablum.”</p>
<p>“So, everyone knew he was questioning his religion?”</p>
<p>“He never made a secret of it,” Mr. Hamblin agreed and then wheezed softly. The emergency tech had the oxygen over his face instantly and gave Chloe a stern look.</p>
<p>“I need to transport him now, Detective. I’ve kept him as long as I’m comfortable with.”</p>
<p>“Of course. Thank you,” Chloe said, aiming it at both the tech and the elderly man. She stepped away from the ambulance as the tech with the oxygen got Mr. Hamblin settled inside with the help of a second tech who’d been waiting around the side of the ambulance.</p>
<p>“I’ve been trying to trace where the poison could be coming in at,” Chloe said to Lucifer as they moved towards the apartment. “So far, though, I have nothing.”</p>
<p>“I could try putting out some feelers,” Lucifer offered. “I have different contacts, after all.”</p>
<p>“At this point, I’ll take whatever help you can give,” Chloe said, not trying to hide the relief in her voice.</p>
<p>Father Lake’s apartment was small and spare, very few decorations and not much furniture beyond what one would expect: a recliner and a coffee table in the living room, a small round table and a couple of chairs in the kitchen, a single bed and small dresser in the bedroom.</p>
<p>“Not living in the lap of luxury,” Lucifer murmured. “I’m guessing he wasn’t leading a megachurch.”</p>
<p>Chloe stepped up beside the tech nearest Father Lake’s body, wishing it were Ella. “What can you tell me?”</p>
<p>“Bruising on the wrists,” the tech said, pointing with one gloved finger. “Vomiting indicates he might’ve ingested something poisonous. Otherwise, it’s a pretty clean scene.”</p>
<p>Lucifer crouched carefully, tilting his head to look at the wrists more closely. “Detective,” he murmured. “I believe I recognize these markings.”</p>
<p>“Are you serious?” Chloe asked, her excitement spiking as she dropped down into a crouch next to him, almost losing her balance and falling back onto her butt in her impatience. She managed to rebalance herself and stared thoughtfully at the priest’s wrist, noting that there were indeed regular darker bruises intermixed with the general bruising of the flesh.</p>
<p>“I’ve seen them used before…but only once. They were a piece of religious iconography that the Vatican collected a few hundred years back. Unless I am greatly mistaken, these particular handcuffs were used to bind Erasmus of Formia, better known as Saint Elmo. He was a Christian saint and martyr known for being bound and brutally tortured. Having been used to bind a saint, they’re believed to be especially good at holding the heretical...perhaps like a questioning priest.”</p>
<p>“The Vatican?” Chloe asked, her blood running suddenly cold. She’d heard the Vatican mentioned recently once before, and it seemed unlikely to be coincidental. “There’s…I’ve been visited twice by a priest who says he’s an investigator from the Vatican.”</p>
<p>“Vatican investigator? Sounds like a soon-to-be-cancelled TV show,” Lucifer said, shooting a grin at Chloe, but she didn’t smile back.</p>
<p>“Lucifer, you don’t understand: he was <em>very</em> interested in you. I think…I think, if he’s the one poisoning these priests with devilsbane and binding them with these – these magical handcuffs, you might be in very real danger.”</p>
<p>“Oh,” Lucifer said, his voice soft as his shock broke through his control, twisting through Chloe’s mind like a snake. He stared at her, his face blank of all emotion despite the roil she could feel happening inside of him. “Right.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Right in the Balls</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dan pulled up as Chloe and Lucifer were heading back to her police-issued vehicle and Chloe sucked in a breath, hoping Dan would be able to keep his temper under control. True, most of the unis on scene had seen his outburst at the precinct the day before, but she didn’t like providing them with any new gossip if it could be avoided.</p>
<p>“Sorry I’m late, Chlo,” he said, hurrying up to her, but his eyes were locked on Lucifer, narrow and sharply focused. “I got caught up in, uh…anyway, I’m here now.”</p>
<p>“Right. Well, there’s not much you need to be caught up on. Another questioning priest, another poisoning. I can give you all the details at the precinct, but I think Lucifer and I should get going –”</p>
<p>“No, wait. I wanted to talk to you both,” Dan said, moving abruptly in front of the driver’s side door of Chloe’s car and holding his hands out to stop her from getting in. Chloe actually took a step back, startled by Dan’s insistence in blocking her from leaving.</p>
<p>Lucifer came around the front of the car slowly, his brows drawing down a bit. Dan seemed to realize he wasn’t winning any friends with his behavior and forced a smile that no one thought was real onto his face, stepping back a bit to give Chloe some space, giving her access to the driver’s side door again. He glanced from Chloe to Lucifer, the smile twitching nervously at his lips. “I realize I’ve been acting like a jerk lately. I thought maybe we could try to bury the hatchet. I’d like to treat you to dinner.”</p>
<p>“Are you asking me on a date, Daniel?” Lucifer asked, his voice teasing as he fluttered his lashes coquettishly. “You aren’t really my type, but if you’re buying…”</p>
<p>“<em>Both</em> of you,” Dan clarified quickly. “I need – want you <em>both</em> there.”</p>
<p>“Uh…okay, yeah,” Chloe said, shooting Lucifer a questioning look. He raised his eyebrows slightly, obviously as confused by the sudden change in Dan’s behavior as she was. “I’ll have to get a sitter for Trixie, of course…maybe Thursday?”</p>
<p>Dan’s face twisted with disappointment for just a second and then the smile was back as he gave a little shrug. “Hey, yeah, a couple days isn’t that long. Sure. Maybe at Lucifer’s penthouse, huh? I’ll bring dinner with me and we can have a friendly chat.”</p>
<p>“Dan, you’re acting weird,” Chloe said, deciding not to tap dance around it. “What is going on with you?”</p>
<p>Dan hesitated, shifting from foot to foot for a second. Finally, he gave his head a little shake. “I just…I had a realization that I’ve been seeing Lucifer all wrong. This seems like the perfect way to deal with the problem, you know?”</p>
<p>“It’s all right, Detective,” Lucifer said, his voice smooth. “Dinner with you and Daniel is no great trial. And, I’m perfectly happy to host you at my penthouse.”</p>
<p>“All right,” Chloe said, shrugging. “Thursday evening, then.”</p>
<p>“Great. Great. Okay, uh…I’ll see you back at the precinct?” Dan asked, but he had already turned to walk away before Chloe had a chance to answer. She waited until he was out of earshot before turning to Lucifer, her voice a whisper.</p>
<p>“Is he acting weirder than normal, or is it just me?”</p>
<p>“Perhaps he really does intend to bury the hatchet and isn’t sure how to behave now that glowering hatred is off the table,” Lucifer said with a negligent shrug. “He does raise an interesting point, though.”</p>
<p>“Oh?”</p>
<p>“Dinner,” Lucifer said, opening the driver’s side door for Chloe. “Not the dinner with him, obviously. I’d like it if <em>we</em> could have dinner, just the two of us.”</p>
<p>“Oh,” Chloe said, stunned momentarily. She should have known this would happen, especially after the near-kiss earlier. She and Lucifer had been dancing around the beginning of a relationship for years. She couldn’t deny that there was a large part of her that wanted to pursue a relationship with Lucifer, despite all the stop signs that had been thrown into her path recently: the reveal of his true face, the unexplained merging of his emotions with hers, the old friend living in his penthouse with him, the potential murderer that might be working their way around to their ultimate goal of hurting Lucifer…it was too much. She couldn’t just move past it and pretend none of it mattered.</p>
<p>“Detective?” His voice was terribly soft, but the confidence that had been in it just seconds before when he’d asked her to dinner was gone. It made Chloe want to say yes…but.</p>
<p>But.</p>
<p>“Lucifer…I just…I don’t think it’s a good idea right now.”</p>
<p>Lucifer sighed softly and looked away from her, staring at nothing in particular out of the windshield of the parked car, but his disappointment bled through to her via their emotional bond and something in Chloe’s chest tightened at the depth of it.</p>
<p>“I-I mean, you’re probably being hunted by some crazy person who’s been poisoning priests over the last week. I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to…to focus on <em>us</em> right now, you know? Let’s…let’s focus on <em>you</em>.”</p>
<p>Lucifer glanced over at her, but it was obvious he knew she was just trying to soften the blow.</p>
<p>“I’m not…I’m not <em>not</em> interested,” Chloe confessed, the words coming out slow and painful. “I just…need a little more time. Okay?”</p>
<p>“Of course, Detective. It’s yours to choose,” Lucifer said softly, but there was pain in his eyes and the pulse of his disappointment was not lessening at all. It made the drive back to the precinct a silent and uncomfortable affair, and Lucifer took his leave as soon as Chloe put the car in park.</p>
<p>“I’ll check in with you later,” he said, his tone distant, and the passenger door shut before she could even formulate a reply.</p>
<p>Chloe watched him walk away, her own disappointment rising swiftly. This was not what she wanted after all, she was finding. There was a low, pulsing insistence rising in the back of her mind that wanted her to follow him, to stop him from leaving. She wanted – no, <em>needed</em> – to explain that she had been wrong to tell him she wasn’t ready to move forward with their strange relationship.</p>
<p>Chloe almost jumped out of the car to call after him. She was, in fact, reaching for the door handle to let herself out when the door was pulled abruptly from her hand by someone opening it.</p>
<p>Chloe tore her gaze off Lucifer’s retreating figure to stare up at Dan in alarm.</p>
<p>“Hey, glad I caught you. Where’s Lucifer going?”</p>
<p>Chloe took a deep breath, trying to urge her pounding heart to slow down a little. She wasn’t in any danger; it was only Dan. “Uh…he had some business to take care of. What’s up, Dan?”</p>
<p>Dan wasn’t even looking at her, though. He was staring at the spot where Lucifer had turned the corner, his eyes narrowed. After a second, he seemed to realize Chloe had been speaking to him and he looked down at her, blinking as his gaze sharpened on her face, coming back from wherever he’d been mentally. “Huh?”</p>
<p>“I asked you what’s up. Dan, are you okay? You’re acting kind of…odd.”</p>
<p>“Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Just uh…just…reassessing some things. So, you were gonna catch me up on the details?”</p>
<p>“Right. Sure.” Chloe paused, raising her eyebrows slightly. “Can I get out of the car? Maybe even out of the parking garage? We could go up to my desk, and I could sit in a chair, and show you the pertinent information in a well-lit, air-conditioned setting.”</p>
<p>“Right. Yeah. Sorry.” Dan gave a little tense laugh and stepped back, his eyes jumping from Chloe back to where they’d last seen Lucifer before settling on Chloe again. “Hey, I wanted to ask if Trixie could spend the next few days with me.”</p>
<p>“Whoa. You want her to come stay with you in the middle of the school week?”</p>
<p>“Yeah. Yeah, I just think it would be saf – uh, better. I’d uh…I’d like to spend a little extra time with her.” Dan shrugged, his smile not quite believable as a true expression of joy.</p>
<p>“But what about the ongoing priest murders? You’re the lead on these cases, Dan, you can’t just –”</p>
<p>“Hey, you know, why don’t you take over as lead? You were at the scene today and I didn’t make it. And I want to have Trixie with me, so I can do the school drop-offs and pick-ups to free you up to pursue the case. I’ll arrange a babysitter for Thursday evening, so you can just focus on the cases.”</p>
<p>“Okay. Wow. Uh…sure. I can do that. Actually, you know, Maze and Trixie have made up, so we could ask if she’s available –”</p>
<p>“No!” Dan’s voice was so sharp that Chloe actually took a step back, her butt bumping into the driver’s door of her car.</p>
<p>Dan didn’t miss her alarm, and he held both hands up placatingly, making his voice gentler.</p>
<p>“No. Not Maze. Let’s…let’s find someone else. I’ll pay for the sitter, since I’m the one insisting on using someone who’s not a…a…a friend. Okay?”</p>
<p>Chloe hesitated for a long moment, staring at Dan with obvious doubt. Finally, she stepped close enough to lay one hand on his upper arm and was surprised to find the muscles under her fingers clenched tight. “Dan, <em>are</em> you okay?”</p>
<p>“I’m…look, I’ll <em>be</em> okay,” Dan said, shrugging her arm off with a quick movement, taking a step back and forcing a smile onto his face that Chloe didn’t believe for a second. “Head on up, okay? Get into the a/c. I’ll be up in a little bit.”</p>
<p>“All right,” Chloe said, still doubtful, but she turned to head towards the elevator that would take her up to the precinct, leaving Dan in the parking garage alone.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>Lucifer was an expert on how much time the Devil could waste in drinking and playing the piano, but he was determined to check again and see if he could double that. He had been delighted to see that the alcohol order was arriving when he pulled up to Lux. He’d taken a generous armful of bottles up to his penthouse with him, and was working his way through them with determination, accompanying the liquor with a variety of songs that did nothing to soothe him.</p>
<p>Shouldn’t wooing the Detective be easier, given that she’d been intended for him by his father? But then, would he enjoy the wooing if she fell so helplessly to him as so many others had before?</p>
<p>“And <em>this</em> is ‘enjoyable’?” he scoffed softly, thinking of the back-and-forth tug of the last month. No, he could not say he was enjoying trying to win the Detective over just now, no matter what his father may have intended.</p>
<p>Lucifer drained his tumbler and refilled it, setting it atop the piano as his newly freed hand rejoined his first hand in the melody he’d been playing.</p>
<p>Furthermore, should he even want to wooing to move forward? She was made for him, yes…but shouldn’t she have the freedom to decide if <em>he</em> was what <em>she</em> really wanted? If she was always being pushed towards him by celestial powers that she could neither comprehend nor resist, was it…fair?</p>
<p>He growled softly under his breath, a wordless grumble of dissatisfaction, and stopped playing to thrust both hands into his hair, ruffling it furiously for a second before leaning his elbows onto the keys with a jarring blast of sound. He rested his face in his hands and sighed heavily.</p>
<p>The sound of the elevator doors opening made him look up. He was faintly amused to see Maze and Eve stepping off of the elevator, their clothes torn, their hair mussed, and Maze sporting a bloody lip that was rapidly swelling to what looked to be truly impressive proportions.</p>
<p>“Either you’ve had a very good time, or you’ve had a very bad time,” he said, reaching out to take his drink from the top of the piano. He rose from the piano bench as Eve stumbled off the elevator, and he noted one of her high heels was now a flat, the heel snapped completely off.</p>
<p>“Good time,” Maze said.</p>
<p>“Oh, definitely a good time,” Eve agreed, her face lighting up as she locked her eyes on the disheveled Devil. “We got him!”</p>
<p>“I’m going to go shower,” Maze said, not stepping off the elevator. “Let me know if you want to come along again some time, Eve; you were great. I wasn’t expecting you to smash him right in the balls, but that was perfectly timed.”</p>
<p>“I would love to come along again!” Eve chirped, turning an enthusiastic expression on Maze, reaching to pull her dress back up on one shoulder. The strap was almost torn completely through and it immediately slumped back down her upper arm.</p>
<p>“All right,” Maze said, sounding pleased. “See you later, then.”</p>
<p>The elevator doors slid shut and Eve turned to Lucifer. “What have you been doing all day?”</p>
<p>Lucifer blinked once, confused by the question, and then turned his gaze to the floor-to-ceiling glass panels that led to his balcony. It was full night outside, the stars twinkling above and the lights of LA twinkling below. It had been mid-afternoon when he’d arrived at Lux and taken his pilfered bottles up to his penthouse. He hadn’t realized he’d spent such a long time in thought.</p>
<p>“Eve,” he said, his mind jumping back to what he’d been considering all afternoon. He turned back to her with a sudden intensity that made her hazel eyes go huge, her lips drawing down slightly in a tiny, concerned frown.</p>
<p>“Yes?”</p>
<p>“What is it like, being created for someone else?” Lucifer’s voice was soft and hesitant, as if he were asking something shameful.</p>
<p>Eve considered for a moment, her eyes focused on nothing in particular as she stared over his shoulder. One slim finger tapped lightly against the side of her thigh before she shrugged, causing the torn strap of her dress to slide a little lower on her arm. “Honestly? Pretty awful. I’m still my own person…but <em>not</em>. I have my own thoughts and feelings and opinions, but they aren’t important because all I’m meant to do is complete someone else.”</p>
<p>Lucifer sucked in a breath that burned with guilt and self-recrimination. He hadn’t asked for Chloe, hadn’t been a part of her making, but it was <em>for him</em> that she’d been created. As far as he was concerned, that made him complicit in this injustice.</p>
<p>“Lucifer?” Eve hadn’t missed his sudden wince of pain. She stepped closer, limping on the broken heel, and rested a hand comfortingly against his upper arm.</p>
<p>He shook his head mutely, unwilling to voice this particular sin out loud. His depth of feeling for the Detective in no way excused him from how his father had twisted her existence into nothing more than a foil for his.</p>
<p>“I’m…I’m sorry for what my father did to you. You didn’t deserve to be treated like a celestial pawn. It was unconscionable. It showed a complete disregard of you as a person and ignored all the talents and brilliancy you bring to the world. You are your own amazing, beautiful, brave, intelligent woman, and you deserve so much more than to be tied to…to…” Lucifer trailed off, realizing he’d stopped speaking to Eve somewhere in the middle of his speech, everything in him striving towards Chloe with his heartfelt apology.</p>
<p>Eve’s hands were pressed to her mouth, her eyes sparkling with unshed tears. “Lucifer…that was…<em>thank</em> you! I didn’t realize you felt that way about me. I mean, I’d hoped you did – that was why I came back to Earth. I hoped that what we shared in The Garden wasn’t just a one-time thing. I can’t tell you how much it means to me to hear how you really feel.”</p>
<p>Oh.</p>
<p><em>Oops</em>.</p>
<p>Lucifer was opening his mouth, scrambling mentally for a way to tactfully explain that he’d actually been thinking of someone else, when Eve’s arms went around his neck and her mouth pressed to his, warm and hopeful.</p>
<p>He knew he should push her away. He knew he should apologize for misleading her. He knew he should explain.</p>
<p>But he was so <em>tired</em>. He was exhausted by the constant push and pull of his relationship with the Detective, wearied to his very bones by needing to hold himself tightly to not accidentally invade her mind with his turbulent emotions, worn down to nothing by his need to resist his father’s machinations while still going after what he most desired for himself.</p>
<p>It would be so much easier to just let everything fall away for a while and lose himself in the comfort and distraction Eve was offering him.</p>
<p>So, he did.</p>
<p>He threaded his fingers through the thick waves of her hair and drew her even closer, sinking into the kiss. When she shifted closer to him, he let himself sit back onto the piano bench. She straddled his lap and he slid his hands around her back to support her. He let himself fall into the moment, and did the unforgivably rude: he let his body be fully present in everything he and Eve were doing while letting his mind drift away from her.</p>
<p>His lips slid hungrily across Eve’s, but it was the Detective he thought of. His fingers slid down the back of the torn dress and explored the dip of Eve’s spine, but it was the Detective’s warm skin he imagined beneath his palms.</p>
<p>Miles away, in the quiet of her apartment, Chloe closed the file she’d been reading. She wasn’t any closer to solving these poisonings on her fifth readthrough of the case details than she’d been on her fourth. But with Trixie staying with Dan for the next few days, she had nothing else to distract her from her continuous, nagging thoughts of Lucifer.</p>
<p>She was worried about him, of course, but more than that, she was tired of trying to hold herself apart from him. If he was to be believed, he was no more in control of their bizarre emotional bond than she was, and trying to keep his emotions from sliding into her awareness required constant vigilance on his part. He was trying so hard to give her the space she needed, and she kept pushing him farther and farther back.</p>
<p>It was long past time for her to stop painting him as the bad guy in her own head. He <em>was</em> the Devil…but humanity’s understanding of him was so flawed as to be a bad joke.</p>
<p>His emotional bleed through into her head was not his fault any more than his physical vulnerability when she was around him was her fault. It was time to stop blaming him for the things that were out of his control.</p>
<p>Chloe grabbed her phone and keys almost before she realized what she intended to do, rushing out the door and heading to Lucifer’s penthouse mere seconds afterwards. She felt almost like she was being drawn to him without conscious thought, pulled towards him with an inexorable tug that insisted she be with him. She <em>needed</em> to be with him.</p>
<p>Fine. She wouldn’t resist it. There was no truly good reason any more.</p>
<p>She rehearsed what she wanted to say as she drove through the heavy late-evening LA traffic, tried to imagine his responses as she threaded through the crowd populating Lux, hoped he would forgive her for the weeks she’d wasted in punishing him for something he couldn’t control as she rode the elevator up to the penthouse. The closer she got to him, the stronger an emotion seeped into her awareness, growing until it filled her completely.</p>
<p>It was warm, ecstatic, embracing her and drawing her towards him with more insistence with every inch closer she got. It pulled, tugged, drew her with its insistence that she be with him. The elevator was not moving fast enough to please the insistent draw of Lucifer’s emotion.</p>
<p>Desire. Need. Desperation.</p>
<p>And love. So much love.</p>
<p>Hers? His? It didn’t really matter to her anymore.</p>
<p>Chloe’s vision blurred with the sudden sting of tears, the warmth of the love wrapping around her like a blanket on an icy cold day.</p>
<p>The elevator doors opened and Chloe hurried out, her mouth already forming Lucifer’s name as her heart leaped into her throat in expectation of the conversation to follow.</p>
<p>The word never left her lips. Across his penthouse, Lucifer was silhouetted against the night sky outside the balcony. Both his suit jacket and shirt had been removed at some point, the soft lines of his back unhidden by material. In his arms, he held a woman with long, dark, wavy hair. Chloe couldn’t really see her face, given that it was pressed so hungrily to Lucifer’s, but the hair was familiar. His old friend who was staying with him while she got settled in LA.</p>
<p>Eve.</p>
<p>And Chloe knew in that second that the love that had been filling her to overflowing was Lucifer’s, because all <em>she</em> could feel was the sharp snap of her heart breaking as Lucifer’s arms tightened on someone else and his love slid through her mind like sweet poison.</p>
<p>Chloe fled back into the elevator with silent steps, the tears in her eyes finally overflowing her lids as the elevator doors slid shut and cocooned her in isolation.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Over a Mistake</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Oh, hey, Chloe. Sunglasses inside, huh? Were you out all night partying without me?” Ella’s bright, bubbly greeting grated on Chloe’s nerves and she cringed over her mug of coffee, hunching like a troll over the promise of warmth and caffeine. Ella’s chirping voice caused Chloe to hunch even deeper, shoulders rounding in protectively.</p><p>“No,” Chloe said, her voice hoarse from a rough night with little sleep and too many tears. “I definitely was not out partying.”</p><p>Ella’s smile dropped instantly and she reached out, carefully removing Chloe’s sunglasses and taking in the swollen, red-rimmed eyes brought on from a long night of sobbing into an unsympathetic pillow.</p><p>“Oh, no,” Ella whispered. “Did someone die? Did <em>Lucifer</em> die? Is that why he hasn’t been around the last few weeks?”</p><p>“Lucifer is not dead,” Chloe said, snatching the sunglasses back and putting them over her sensitive eyes again. “I just…had a realization last night. About Lucifer and me. And how that whole…<em>thing</em> is never, <em>ever</em> going to happen.”</p><p>“Ohhh…” Ella’s voice was sympathetic, and before Chloe could dodge away, Ella had ducked past the mug of coffee and wrapped Chloe in a hug. Chloe held still for a moment, allowing it, before she wriggled loose.</p><p>“It’s not a big deal,” Chloe insisted. “It was stupid of me to continue holding a torch for someone who is so <em>obviously</em> wrong for me. I mean, he likes to party. I do not. He likes meaningless hook-ups. I do not. He only cares about himself. I –”</p><p>“Okay, I get it,” Ella said, raising her eyebrows slightly. “We are on full Bitterness Parade today. Do I want to know what happened?”</p><p>“It’s not worth talking about,” Chloe said, leaning a hip against the coffee counter as she looked at Ella’s concerned face, her upper body slumping as she sighed. “I just forgot for a minute who Lucifer is, that’s all. It was my own mistake, and I’m learning from it.”</p><p>“All right,” Ella said, sounding unconvinced. “Have you made any more headway on the devilsbane poisonings?”</p><p>“No,” Chloe said with another sigh, lowering her mug to rest on the counter and free her hands up. “And I’m starting to feel like we’re running out of time. This killer is striking fast, victim after victim. I’m worried that they’re building up to something big.”</p><p>“Like what?” Ella asked, lowering her voice a little in surprise.</p><p>“I don’t know for sure,” Chloe hedged, not wanting to admit outright that it was likely this serial killer was aiming to finish their run by taking down the Devil. “But I don’t think we have much time left.”</p><p>“You’ll stop him, Decker. Your close rate is amazing.” Ella’s smile was brilliant as she turned to go, adding, “You’re invincible!”</p><p>Chloe wished she had the same confidence.               </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Lucifer had heard many tales of people waking up the morning after delightful shenanigans to find themselves in the grip of unexpected guilt. He, personally, had never experienced it before. After all, every sinful, naughty experience he’d ever dived into had been something he had chosen whole-heartedly for himself with no reservations.</p><p>Waking up with Eve beside him, though, gave Lucifer a new experience: morning-after shame.</p><p>He came to slowly, his thoughts sluggish and muzzy after too little sleep and too much alcohol throughout a long and emotionally charged afternoon and evening. It took him a moment to realize he wasn’t alone in his bed, and as soon as he saw the dark spread of wavy hair across the pillow beside him, everything crashed in with shocking clarity.</p><p>“Oh, no,” he whispered, the words barely a breath of air. Still, they were apparently enough to wake Eve, because she made a low, throaty sound and stretched, her eyes opening slowly. She blinked at Lucifer a few times and then a soft smile lit her face up.</p><p>“Hi,” she whispered.</p><p>“Uh…hello.” Lucifer hesitated, desperate for something to say, and finally blurted, “Coffee? I can run out to a Starbucks –”</p><p>Eve was snuggling closer to him though, throwing a long, shapely leg over his hip and dragging him closer. “No, I think I’d just like to spend the whole day like this.”</p><p>“The whole day?” Lucifer repeated, alarm bells ringing in his head. “Like…this?”</p><p>“Mmmhmm,” Eve said, burying her face into the side of his neck and nuzzling her nose against his pulse point.</p><p>“Ah. But I have…work. I have to get to – to, uh…I’m sure the precinct needs me. There are murders that need my expert eye,” Lucifer said, sliding away from Eve across the mattress. “I’m sure. People die all the time, so surely by now, someone has been murdered horrifically in the greater LA area.”</p><p>“Do you have to?” Eve asked, pouting a little as he made his way out of the bed. He reached desperately for his robe where it rested across a chair nearby, dragging it on quickly and tying it shut.</p><p>“I absolutely do,” Lucifer confirmed, backing away from the bed with quick, nervous steps.</p><p>“All right. But let’s plan to have lunch together, okay? I’ll meet you up here around…noon?”</p><p>“Oh. I…noon.” Lucifer forced a quick smile. “Noon.”</p><p>“All right. I can’t wait,” Eve said, giving a little wiggle in the bed before stretching luxuriously again. Lucifer left the room in what could charitably be called ‘a hurry’ but which was, if he was really being honest with himself, an undignified retreat.</p><p>He showered and was relieved to find his bedroom empty by the time he peered in cautiously, clean and still damp, his towel wrapped protectively around his waist. He shucked the towel and struggled into his clothes with little of his usual grace, focused fully on getting out of the penthouse at the greatest possible speed.</p><p>Eve caught up with him as he was making his way past his personal bar, heading for the elevator that would take him downstairs.</p><p>“Have a good day!” she chirped, the smirk on her face reminiscent of the cat that ate the canary, and she dropped a lingering kiss to his lips. Lucifer had to admit that she was a good kisser, enthusiastic and giving with her affections. But this was so far from what he wanted from her that the kiss left him feeling…wrong.</p><p>He broke it off and gave Eve an awkward smile, resuming his path to the elevator.</p><p>“See you for lunch!” she called, and then the doors slid shut, cutting him off from her.</p><p>Lucifer slumped against a wall of the elevator, hands braced against the grab bar, and let out a harsh breath. He stared down at the polished toes of his shoes before he finally gave in and whispered, “Shit.”</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Dr. Linda Martin, therapist and friend, was just getting her office set up for the day’s patients when her office door banged open and Lucifer barged in. He glanced around, saw that no one waiting, and shut the door with a bang before dropping onto her couch.</p><p>“Sorry to interrupt in your…condition, but I need help now,” Lucifer said by way of explanation.</p><p>“Lucifer!” Linda said, making no effort to hide her confusion as she came around her desk to face him. “You don’t have an appointment for another four days. And what ‘condition’?”</p><p>“But I need help <em>now</em>,” he said.</p><p>“I have a client on the way,” Linda protested, moving towards him.</p><p>“You’re taking clients in your condition?”</p><p>“What <em>condition?</em>” Linda nearly shouted, her frustration getting the better of her.</p><p>“Your pregnancy!” Lucifer said, gesturing at her still-flat abdomen.</p><p>Linda looked nonplussed for a moment. “Amenadiel told you.”</p><p>“Well, <em>obviously</em>,” Lucifer said, huffing softly.</p><p>“Right. Okay. Well, there’s no compelling reason to <em>not</em> take clients. I am still in the very early stages of pregnancy, and I plan to continue seeing clients throughout unless there’s a really good reason to stop,” Linda said. “Speaking of clients, my first client of the day will be here in –” Linda broke off, checking her wristwatch before continuing, “fifteen minutes.”</p><p>“Then we’ll have to make this brief,” he insisted, gesturing towards the chair Linda usually occupied during their therapy sessions. She glared at him for a few seconds before she huffed and sat down, crossing her legs and staring him down.</p><p>“All right. What seems to be the problem?”</p><p>“I think I’ve made a horrible mistake,” Lucifer confessed, leaning forward slightly.</p><p>“I find that surprisingly easy to believe,” Linda admitted. “What happened?”</p><p>“I slept with Eve.”</p><p>“You sleep with a lot of women,” Linda said, not following him. “It’s one of the hallmarks of who you are as a person – er, a Devil.”</p><p>“Right, yes, but this is <em>Eve</em>. I’ve known her for thousands of years.” Lucifer gave a little laugh, shaking his head slightly as he corrected himself. “Well, I <em>knew</em> her thousands of years ago. She’s only recently left Heaven and come back to Earth to experience life as a human in the modern age.”</p><p>“Wait. Stop. Eve. Do you mean…<em>the</em> Eve?” Linda asked, her eyes going huge behind her glasses. She gripped the arms of her chair with sudden white-knuckled intensity, and Lucifer scoffed.</p><p>“Of course. Do try to keep up, Doctor. Now, when she came back to Earth, she gave me the reason of wanting to have fun, but I think there’s more to it than that. She’s been…very focused on me in particular since she arrived. I’m afraid that, by sleeping with her, I may have accidentally led her to believe that I return her particular affections.” He leaned back into the soft embrace of the couch cushions, crossing one leg over the other as he opened his hands wide, palms up. “What can I do to convince her that I am <em>not</em> what she’s seeking from this second chance at life?”</p><p>Linda stared in silence for a few long seconds before she leaned forward, planting both of her black pumps on the plush carpet as she leaned out over her knees. “<em>The</em> Eve?”</p><p>“Doctor!” Lucifer managed to sound both offended and exasperated in the space of a single word, and Linda gave her head a tiny shake.</p><p>“Right. Sorry. So…you slept with <em>the</em> Eve and now you’re worried that she may be reading more into the act than you intended her to,” Linda said, focusing herself on the problem at hand.</p><p>“Exactly,” Lucifer said, relieved to finally have his therapist back in working order. “In my defense, it is entirely possible I only slept with her to distract myself from the difficult situation I’ve found myself in with the Detective ever since she saw my Devil face a month back.”</p><p>“Okay, not really a great defense,” Linda pointed out, and Lucifer grimaced faintly.</p><p>“Unfortunately, I agree with you on that. But that’s neither here nor there: I need a way to end this situation with Eve before it grows any more complicated.”</p><p>“Well,” Linda said, spreading her hands wide, “have you considered simply telling her the truth about the relationship?”</p><p>“What, like telling her that I’m not relationship material?”</p><p>“Do <em>you</em> feel like you aren’t relationship material?” Linda volleyed back, and Lucifer paused for a moment, considering the question.</p><p>“I’ve never considered myself suitable for that position before, no. In recent years, I’ve found my opinion changing somewhat.” Lucifer stopped speaking, fighting to hold back the sudden rush of emotion at that thought, taking a deep and steadying breath before saying, “Truth be told, I’ve found a lot of my opinions shifting in the last few years.”</p><p>“And what do you think is the catalyst of this sea change?” Linda asked, leaning forward slightly, her gaze intense.</p><p>“Well,” Lucifer said, giving a small laugh, “there have been so many big changes lately. Mum getting out of Hell, my wings coming back, my Devil face leaving and then returning…one can hardly narrow it down to one thing.”</p><p>“Okay, but if you were to <em>try</em>,” Linda prompted.</p><p>“There’s really no telling, Doctor. But none of this helps me with the problem of <em>Eve</em>.”</p><p>Linda sighed softly, looking down at the carpet for a second. “Of course not. Well…what is the outcome you most hope for with your current situation with Eve?”</p><p>“Ideally, she’d be happy…just not with <em>me</em>,” Lucifer said, grimacing faintly.</p><p>“Is there a way you can achieve that?”</p><p>“That’s why I’m here, Doctor! To try and get some expert advice on getting her out of my life! I’m starting to feel like I’d get better advice if I asked <em>Maze</em>.” Lucifer paused, his face brightening as realization rushed over him. “Of course: <em>Maze!</em> She and Eve seem to’ve struck up a mutually satisfying alliance; I’ll send Eve with Maze for a while, give us some distance from one another. With any luck, Maze will be able to sway Eve away from her obsession with me. Excellent idea, Doctor.”</p><p>“Uh, wait,” Linda said, alarm crossing her features as she raised a staying hand towards her confused patient, but Lucifer was already off the couch and rushing towards the door, his expression positively glowing.</p><p>“Thank you <em>so</em> much!” he called back, and then flung the door open, nearly bumping into Linda’s 9am appointment. The smaller man stumbled back a step, squeaking softly. “Ah.” Lucifer glanced between the stranger and Linda before reaching out to pat the man lightly on one shoulder. “You are in good hands with Dr. Martin. Enjoy your guidance from the best!”</p><p>Linda sighed. All things considered, the impromptu appointment had gone about like she had learned to expect with Lucifer.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Lucifer stepped into the bullpen of the precinct with a little trepidation; things with the Detective were far from perfect, he had a difficult lunch coming in a few hours, and Daniel expected to have dinner with both him and the Detective the next evening. He sincerely hoped there might be something to distract him from all the stressors, but he was barely into the precinct when Ella Lopez, the tiny and energetic forensic scientist, grabbed him by one sleeve and stopped his forward progress.</p><p>“Bad day today, man,” she said, his big brown eyes full of worry as she looked up at him. “Chloe looks like she got run over by the Feels Train <em>twice</em>. Dan is as twitchy as a meth addict trying to go clean. Unless you’re planning to spend the day with the unis, it might not be the best day to be here.”</p><p>“Wait. Something’s wrong with the Detective?” Lucifer asked, instantly concerned. He scanned the bullpen, but she was nowhere to be seen.</p><p>“Um…<em>you’re</em> what’s wrong with Chloe,” Ella said gently, giving Lucifer a little shove back towards the stairs. “She looked like she’d been crying all night.”</p><p>“Me?” Lucifer said, completely nonplussed. “What did <em>I</em> do?”</p><p>“She wouldn’t say. But you need to go, okay? Just…just give her some space.”</p><p>Lucifer took another step back towards the stairs, taking one last look around the bullpen in a doomed attempt to find the Detective, and bumped into someone behind him coming down the stairs.</p><p>“What are you doing here?” Dan asked, sounding furious. Lucifer blinked, startled.</p><p>“I was looking for the Detective,” he confessed, unsure how to handle this sudden turnaround on Dan’s attitude. The day before, he’d been proposing a fresh start and a peace dinner; now he was back to glaring at Lucifer.</p><p>Dan seemed to realize he’d misstepped and moved away a step, crossing his arms over his chest before forcing a smile to his face that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Sorry about that. I was…distracted. Chloe’s not here right now. She went to go question witnesses at the sites of the priest murders again, see if she can get anything new out of them.”</p><p>“Right,” Lucifer said, still staring at Dan in confusion.</p><p>“Dinner tomorrow?” Dan asked quickly, his brows drawing down slightly as if he were unsure of the answer.</p><p>“I plan to be there. If you and the Detective show up at my penthouse, we will have dinner.”</p><p>“Great,” Dan said, that false smile still pasted on his face. “Great.”</p><p>Lucifer stared at Dan for a long moment before asking, “Are you all right?”</p><p>Dan barked a laugh that sounded almost angry, shrugging his shoulders without uncrossing his arms. “I’m <em>fine</em>, man.”</p><p>“Right,” Lucifer said, unconvinced. “I suppose I’ll see you tomorrow then.”</p><p>Lucifer headed up the stairs to leave the precinct, but he felt Dan’s eyes on him the whole way up, uncomfortable and heavy.</p><p>Before leaving the precinct, Lucifer texted Maze to meet him at Lux and was relieved to see her heading towards the elevator that would take her to the upper levels of the building as he was walking into the club proper, currently closed to customers.</p><p>“Maze!” he called, and the demon turned to watch him approach with narrowed eyes.</p><p>“You said you had something important you needed me to do. Who am I killing?”</p><p>Lucifer gave an amused scoff as he caught up to her. “No, nothing like that. I just need you to spend some time with Eve for me. I need her occupied and happy.”</p><p>“Oh, is that all?” Maze raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips for a second. “Sure, that’s fine. I was about the leave town to go after a bounty, but I could wait –”</p><p>“That’s perfect!” Lucifer said with enthusiasm, stepping into the elevator. “Take her with you. Have a good time together.”</p><p>Maze stared at him in silence as the elevator rose. Finally, she blurted, “What is going on? Why are you suddenly so eager to get her out of here? I thought you handled whatever was endangering her.”</p><p>“I <em>did</em>,” Lucifer insisted. “I rather thought that would be the end of things, but I made a mistake last night. I had sex with her.”</p><p>“Sex is never a mistake,” Maze muttered, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes away.</p><p>“Well, it can be if the other person involved thinks it means more than it did.”</p><p>“Oh. Ew.” Maze grimaced, glancing back at him again. “So, what you’re saying is you want me to take her away and convince her that she doesn’t actually want to be with you.”</p><p>“If you can,” Lucifer said, forcing a smile.</p><p>“Is that a challenge?” Maze asked, a smile growing slowly across her face.</p><p>“If you like,” Lucifer said, giving his cuffs a neatening tug as they reached the penthouse and the elevator paused for a moment before the doors slid open.</p><p>“Challenge accepted,” Maze purred, and they stepped into the penthouse.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Lucifer was surprised to find himself relieved to be crawling into his bed alone that night. In the years since he’d landed on Earth for his extended ‘vacation,’ he’d rarely spent a night completely alone. He almost always had company, and he liked it that way. However, knowing that Eve was under Maze’s eye and not following him around the penthouse was a relief. He didn’t begrudge her the fascination she seemed to have with him; one could hardly help but be attracted to such a compact package of sin, after all.</p><p>But, of late, all of Lucifer’s attention had been eaten up with the Detective. She was proving damnably difficult to ignore, especially given the emotional bond they now shared. Certainly, he could just avoid her and that would solve all their problems…but he didn’t <em>want</em> to. Perhaps it was just his father’s machinations, but the longer Lucifer knew her, the more he <em>wanted</em> to know her.</p><p>Lucifer sighed, thumped his pillow with a fist, and rolled over into the newly beaten spot, hoping to escape the round-and-round of his own thoughts for the respite of sleep. It was hours, though, before he was finally able to slip into unconsciousness.</p><p>He woke much later than he was accustomed to and groaned unhappily as he dragged a hand over his face, palm rasping over his perpetual five o’ clock shadow. It was going to be an entire-carafe-of-coffee kind of day, he thought, rolling slowly out of bed.</p><p>It turned out to be a two-carafes-of-coffee day, the first drunk standing in the kitchen in his boxers and robe, blinking myopically at the stove while he waited for the caffeine to fill in the gaps in his brain that lack of sleep had left. By the time he’d drained the entire French press, he felt awake enough to take a shower. The second carafe was consumed with breakfast, and he finally felt functional enough to head downstairs to address the daily running of Lux.</p><p>His morning passed pleasantly if dully, the hours spent approving purchases for the club and ensuring that the cleaning service they hired in was being paid on time. By the time he headed to the precinct, he felt relaxed and comfortable.</p><p>The expression on the Detective’s face when he hailed her instantly took the wind from his sails. He did not miss the grimace on her face, the tightening of her shoulders, and the completely fake smile she pasted on as she turned from profile to fully facing him.</p><p>“What is it, Lucifer?” she asked, and her voice was tight and unhappy.</p><p>“I could ask you the same thing,” he murmured, pulling a rolling office chair over beside her desk and seating himself in it, steepling his fingers together on the edge of her desk. “I avoided you yesterday at Ms. Lopez’s suggestion, but since you and I will be dining with Daniel tonight, I thought it best we work out whatever problem you have with me so we can present a united front.”</p><p>Chloe’s face went through a series of emotions as he spoke: shocked, worried, annoyed, and finally exasperated.</p><p>“I was thinking of calling the dinner off,” she admitted, leaning back in her chair and glaring at him. “Dan might want to bury the hatchet, but I’m not feeling that great about you right now.”</p><p>“Care to tell me why?” Lucifer asked, perplexed. What on Earth had he done <em>now</em> to earn her ire? He tightened down on his emotions, trying to shield her from the growing consternation and confusion rising in him. No need for them both to be swamped in his feelings right now.</p><p>“You know what? No. I don’t want to talk about it. I just…I shouldn’t have…I expected too much. I wanted…things that I can’t have, and then I got upset when you…you acted exactly like yourself. It’s my own fault that I feel this way, and I need to just work it out myself, okay?”</p><p>“No, <em>not</em> ‘okay.’ Detective, please…I’d like to understand.” He did a good job of sounding gentle and non-judgmental. Inside, he was nothing but churning frustration. She was pushing him away <em>again</em>, Dad-damnit. Sure, she’d rejected his suggestion of a private dinner between the two of them, but she hadn’t rejected <em>him</em>, not outright. So why was she suddenly acting as if she couldn’t stand to be around him?</p><p>“I…I came by your penthouse the other night. I should’ve called or texted or something to make sure it was okay, but it was a…a complete impulse. I saw you. With Eve.”</p><p>Oh.</p><p>Well, shit.</p><p>“It…was a moment of weakness.”</p><p>“Lucifer, I don’t need an explan –”</p><p>“But I want to give you one,” he protested, cutting her off. The Detective’s mouth shut so quickly it made a soft <em>pop</em> sound, but she glared at him silently as if waiting for him to continue.</p><p>“As I said, it was a moment of weakness. I find myself surprisingly frustrated by the constant game of hot and cold between us. You seem to be softening to me, and then suddenly you turn and act like you want more distance between us. Just as I’m beginning to accept the new roles we’re expected to play, you once again make overtures that give me hope.” Lucifer paused for a moment, staring at the Detective in silence. Her expression had softened slightly, and he felt a surge of hope. “Eve…has always been very upfront about her desire to have me. But I…I don’t want to just be possessed. I don’t want someone who only wants to <em>have</em> me.”</p><p>“Then what <em>do</em> you want?” the Detective asked, and Lucifer heaved a heavy sigh.</p><p>“I want…I want you to accept me. All of me.”</p><p>Her face was abruptly sympathetic, and she reached out, resting a hand on top of his. He stared down at the point of contact, suddenly afraid to make eye contact.</p><p>“I’m trying, Lucifer. It’s getting easier. I just…” She sighed, drawing her hand off of his and resting it in her lap, fingers tapping against the top of her thigh as she thought. Lucifer looked up at her face now that her eyes were downcast, taking in the smoothness of her skin, the shine of her hair under the buzzing fluorescents of the precinct, the way she worried her soft lower lip between her teeth as she considered how to answer him. He drank it in like an aged scotch, rich and warm and delicious. Some of his feelings must have slipped through, because her wide blue eyes ticked up to meet his, a warm blush coloring her cheeks and throat.</p><p>“Apologies,” he murmured, clamping down on the emotions again.</p><p>“When I…when I accidentally walked in on you and uh…” Chloe trailed off, and Lucifer cut in quickly.</p><p>“Right, yes.”</p><p>“Well, when I walked in on…that…I felt…I could feel your – your emotions.”</p><p>“I didn’t know you were there; I wasn’t shielding,” Lucifer said, apology plain in his voice, but Chloe waved it away.</p><p>“No, that’s not – I get that, but that’s…okay, so, what I was feeling was…was…it felt like…what do you feel for Eve?”</p><p>“For Eve?” Lucifer echoed, utterly confused.</p><p>“Do you, like, love her, or –”</p><p>Lucifer’s abrupt bark of laughter cut her question off, and he quickly raised a hand to his mouth, covering it as if trying to take back the loud burst of sound. He quickly dropped his hand, giving the bottom of his suit jacket a little tug, like a cat trying to right its fur after it had been petted by someone it didn’t particularly like.</p><p>“No. No, she is, as I said, an old friend. I wish her well, I enjoy her company, but it definitely does not go beyond that.”</p><p>Chloe made a small, frustrated sound as she looked down at her desk, giving her small potted plant a gentle shove to move it a few inches further along her desk, trying to keep her hands busy with <em>something</em> while she tried to figure out how to phrase what was bothering her.</p><p>“I just want to know that you aren’t playing some weird, elaborate game with me,” she said, and Lucifer felt a painful tightening in his chest at the naked vulnerability in her voice.</p><p>“Detective! Of course not,” he said, leaning forward slightly so that his elbows rested on the edge of the desk, lowering his voice. “I am being honest with you, as I always have and always will be.”</p><p>“Completely honest?” she pressed, and he hesitated, his mouth slightly open as he tried to find a response.</p><p>“There are…things that I am holding back. But, please, trust that I’m only doing so because it is best for you not to know them right now. I <em>will</em> tell you eventually. I promise.”</p><p>She sighed, running one hand over her head to smooth any flyaway hairs that had escaped her ponytail before giving him a weak smile. “All right, Lucifer. I’m going to trust you again. But I’m getting as tired of this…this back-and-forth as you are, okay? I need things to calm down for a while.”</p><p>“Agreed.” Lucifer glanced over his shoulder towards Daniel’s desk, a wry smile tipping his mouth for a moment. “Well…perhaps <em>after</em> dinner tonight, mm? I doubt things will be all that calm what with Daniel trying to fake it until he makes it.”</p><p>The Detective snorted a quick laugh before covering her mouth, her eyes crinkling in a smile over the top edge of her hand as she stared at him. Lucifer drank in the look, a tight knot in his chest loosening at the softness in her expression.</p><p>She dropped her hand, cleared her throat, and then gave her head a little shake. “Okay, look, I have a ton of paperwork. So, unless you’re going to help file…”</p><p>“Understood,” Lucifer said, rising and pushing the rolling desk chair back to where he’d snagged it. “I suppose I should make the rounds and chat with the uniforms, hmm? Let me know if anyone dies while I’m chatting.”</p><p>He didn’t miss the soft exhalation of a laugh from the Detective as he walked away, and it left him with a wide smile.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Chloe showed up at Lux fifteen minutes early that evening. She wanted to make sure that she could act as a buffer between Dan and Lucifer, and that would work better if she arrived before Dan. More than that, though, she just wanted to see Lucifer again. She'd found herself looking forward to the dinner more and more as the day went on, excitement and anticipation building in her. Maybe this really could be a chance for them to turn over a new leaf…<em>all</em> of them.</p><p>The crowd at Lux was sparse, likely owing to the early hour: just a few people nursing drinks at the bar. She rode up to the penthouse silently, fingers tapping nervously on the thin plastic of the lid on the cake she’d picked up on her way over. She wasn’t sure if Dan had gotten dessert to go with the dinner he was bringing, but there were worse outcomes than having a choice of desserts.</p><p>When the elevator doors opened on the penthouse, she was greeted with low lighting and the soft tinkling of subtle music playing over the speakers arranged around the penthouse. It made for a relaxing environment, and Chloe felt the tension flowing out of her as she pushed her long, loose hair back from her face and stepped into the penthouse proper.</p><p>“Lucifer?” she called. “I have cake. Where should I put it?”</p><p>“Detective!” His voice came from his bedroom and he followed the sound a moment later, stepping into the living room in his button up shirt and vest, his suit jacket dangling from one hand.</p><p>He looked gorgeous, as he always did, and so openly pleased to see her. His unguarded, enthusiastic smile made something click into place inside Chloe, and just like that, she knew she was ready to move forward. So what if he was the Devil? So what if he'd made mistakes? It didn't change who he was, and who he was made her feel complete.</p><p>He shrugged into his jacket and reached out, taking the plastic cake box from her hands. “I'll just pop this into the kitchen,” he said, and Chloe nodded, still a little breathless from her realization.</p><p>When he came back a second later, he went straight to the bar.</p><p>“Drink? You're off duty,” he reminded her, a mischievous grin tugging at his mouth.</p><p>“You know what? Yes. Thank you.” Chloe stepped up next to him, heart pounding at his proximity. She could feel the warmth of him against the arm her cream-colored short-sleeved blouse bared, and it made gooseflesh spread over her skin in a tingling wave.</p><p>Lucifer poured two drinks and held one towards her, casual and cheerful and just so much himself. Chloe took the glass from his hand and raised it a little.</p><p>“To a fresh start,” she said, smiling at Lucifer.</p><p>He raised his eyebrows and then smiled back, the expression softer than his usual smile as he looked down at her. She felt the faintest tickle of his pleasure sliding into her mind, but this particular emotional leak into her was comforting instead of alarming. She sipped, grimacing a bit at the burn of the liquor on her tongue and throat, and set her glass down on the bar top, leaning a little closer to Lucifer’s long, lean body.</p><p>“I’ve been thinking,” she began, reaching towards his free hand where it hung loose at his side. Her fingertips brushed against the back of his hand, the softest contact, and she felt a surge of expectation from him, quickly clamped down. She stroked the back of his hand lightly with the knuckles of her fingers and was rewarded with another surge of emotion. She grinned unrepentantly as he released a soft, slightly shaky breath.</p><p>“Good thoughts, I hope,” he said, his voice low and intimate as he leaned slightly closer to her, leaving barely a breath of space between them.</p><p>“Definitely good,” she agreed, and slid her fingers into his hand. His own fingers closed on hers, warm and comforting and –</p><p>The elevator doors slid open and Dan stepped into the penthouse, loaded down with cardboard take-out containers smelling strongly of onion, garlic, and basil.</p><p>“Oh!” Chloe stepped away from Lucifer, moving automatically to help Dan with his burden.</p><p>“Made it just in time! Thought I was gonna end up being late when they messed up the order.”</p><p>“Daniel,” Lucifer breathed from behind her. “With your usual impeccable timing.”</p><p> “Here, let me…” Chloe took two of the large boxes that Dan was struggling under, carrying them over to the bar. Dan set his on top of a barstool beside the bar, but Chloe hefted hers up onto the bar top, giving them a little shove to ensure they were in no danger of falling. She felt a little bump as they struck something. The sound of glass shattering on the floor behind the bar made all three of them look up. “…was that my glass?”</p><p>Lucifer and Chloe leaned over the bar, Chloe dodging around the large cardboard containers of food she’d just set down, and Daniel leaned over Lucifer’s drink, his hand flashing into a pocket of his jacket and withdrawing something small. He made a subtle movement over Lucifer’s glass before shoving the object back into his pocket, Chloe and Lucifer none the wiser.</p><p>“Not to worry,” Lucifer said smoothly. “We’ll get it cleaned up and get you a new drink in no time at all, Detective.”</p><p>Lucifer moved away through the penthouse, obviously planning to do just that, and Chloe pulled out a barstool next to where she’d been standing, sitting with a sigh. “Trust me to try and help and end up making a mess.”</p><p>“Don’t do that, Chlo,” Dan said gently, giving her a quick smile. “You didn’t mean to…it was a mistake, right? Don’t beat yourself up over a mistake.”</p><p>“I guess,” Chloe mused, resting her chin in one palm and her elbow on the bar top. “Still, not a great start to an evening where we’re supposed to be celebrating new beginnings.” She gave Dan a wry smile, and he grinned back.</p><p>“Don’t start celebrating without me,” Lucifer said, coming back into the main room of the penthouse with a bar towel in one hand and a dustpan and hand broom in the other.</p><p>“Wouldn’t dream of it, man,” Dan said, his smile getting a little tighter at the edges. “Hey, why don’t we toast to new beginnings?”</p><p>“I like the way you think,” Lucifer said, his voice warming. He set his cleaning supplies down on the edge of the bar, reaching to grab two more glasses out. He poured drinks and handed one over to Dan, lifting the other. “To new beginnings.”</p><p>“To the end of old things,” Dan said.</p><p>Chloe reached for her own glass before remembering she’d knocked it down. With a shrug, she grabbed the drink that had originally been Lucifer’s from the bar top and raised it to her lips, taking a sip.</p><p>“Wait – Chloe – no!” Dan’s voice was sharp, horrified, and he reached for her, knocking the drink from her mouth. The liquid splattered across the glass of the bar before the tumbler slid down to join her first glass behind the bar, the shattering sound of it ignored by the three of them in the sudden shock of Dan’s actions.</p><p>“Daniel!” Lucifer sounded offended on Chloe’s behalf, and she was just beginning to get upset when she realized her lips and tongue were tingling strangely.</p><p>Dan was staring at her in open horror, his mouth hanging open as he watched her expression go from offended to puzzled. Lucifer didn’t seem to have noticed anything was wrong yet, because he was continuing to berate Dan in an offended tone.</p><p>“What…” Chloe whispered, finding it somewhat hard to form the word, almost as if she’d been treated with Novocain for a dental procedure. “Dan…what…?”</p><p>“I…I…it wasn’t…you weren’t supposed to – that one wasn’t for you. It was supposed to be <em>his!</em>” Dan’s voice was shaking a little, the words tumbling out in jarring, disconnected bursts. At the last word, he jabbed an accusatory finger at Lucifer, who looked taken aback, glancing between Dan and Chloe with a puzzled expression.</p><p>“Lucifer,” Chloe whispered, her wide blue eyes seeking him out. The alarm written across her face was impossible to miss.</p><p>“What is going on?” Lucifer asked, seeming to realize that all was not what it had initially seemed. “Detective?”</p><p>“My mouth…” Chloe reached up, touching her numb lips. She found her arms felt weak; even lifting her hand took almost more effort than she could muster. A fine sweat was breaking out on her forehead and neck, despite the fact that she didn’t feel any warmer than she had a few minutes before.</p><p>“No no no <em>no</em>,” Dan chanted, putting his own drink down on the bar so roughly that half the alcohol in it sloshed out onto the glass bar top. He grabbed Chloe by her shoulders, giving her a little shake. “Why did you drink it? Why did you take his drink? It was supposed to be <em>him!</em>”</p><p>“Daniel, <em>what have you done?</em>” Lucifer’s voice was soft, dark, deeper and rougher than what Chloe was used to hearing, but she was finding it hard to concentrate on anything but the rising feeling of <em>wrongness</em> inside of her. Dan shaking her seemed to have increased the feeling of sickness that was building in her. She groaned softly, nausea rolling over her in slow waves.</p><p>“I…you…he said you were the Devil. I mean, he was crazy, but…but he said I could give you this and then he could exorcise you.” Dan released Chloe and she slumped to the side, leaning hard against the bar as she fought to take slow, even breaths. She did not want to vomit all over Lucifer’s penthouse if she could avoid it. Dan fumbled into his jacket, pulling out a tiny glass-and-wrought-metal bottle and holding it towards Lucifer.</p><p>Lucifer snatched it from Dan’s hand, popping the lid off and taking a quick sniff, his eyebrows drawing down.</p><p>“I thought…I thought maybe it would just make you sick. I thought you – you deserved it. After…after everything. After Charlotte.”</p><p>“You <em>idiot</em>,” Lucifer snarled, fist clenching around the bottle. “This is devilsbane. This is poisonous for humans!”</p><p>Lucifer capped the tiny bottle and shoved it into the pocket of his suit pants, lifting Chloe from the barstool in his arms and carrying her quickly towards the elevator. Dan followed, his face horrified.</p><p>“I didn’t…poison? I…”</p><p>“This is what’s been killing priests in LA,” Lucifer snapped. “And you’ve just given it to <em>Chloe!</em>”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Waiting Game</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Daniel tried to insist they take his police issued vehicle, pointing out that he could put his bubble light on the roof to get them through traffic and get them to the nearest hospital in only five minutes, but Lucifer insisted he had a faster way. They lost several precious seconds arguing, Chloe hanging in Lucifer’s arms with increasing weight as she dropped further and further into a stupor thanks to the devilsbane making its way into her system.</p><p>Finally, Lucifer unfurled his wings in the middle of Daniel’s seemingly ceaseless tirade of words. That shut Daniel up rather finally, the man stumbling back and crashing into a wall of Lucifer’s private garage, his eyes so huge that Lucifer wouldn’t have been surprised had they fallen from his head.</p><p>“The…the feathers,” Daniel whispered, and Lucifer furrowed his brow, temporarily distracted.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“The Internal Affairs investigation into Pierce’s killing. The – the techs, they said that there were feathers on the scene that they couldn’t match to anything there. White, bloody feathers.”</p><p>Lucifer stretched his wings slightly wider in remembered pain. Hundreds of bullets ripping through his pinions and flight feathers into the delicate skin and bone beneath, tearing away fluff and flesh in equal measure as he screamed in pain and held the Detective’s body in his arms.</p><p>He pulled himself from the memory with a soft growl in the back of his throat and glanced down at the very real Detective in his arms now. He didn’t have <em>time</em> for this.</p><p>“You can catch up,” Lucifer said, the words dark with barely contained fury. “I am getting her to the hospital <em>now</em>.”</p><p>Daniel was nodding his agreement when Lucifer took off, dismissing him without another thought. He only had room in his head for Chloe now. He could only hope that, with such a tiny dose of the poison, she wouldn’t suffer any permanent complications.</p><p>He was relieved at how quickly the medical team leaped into gear when he carried the Detective into the ER waiting room in his arms and shouted that she’d been poisoned and was unresponsive. The nurses had her on a gurney and wheeling back to the treatment area within seconds.</p><p>There was a delay when Lucifer tried to follow and a stern, motherly-looking nurse blocked him.</p><p>“I’m sorry, sir, but we need to get her stabilized and someone needs to fill out her intake paperwork.”</p><p>“I’m not filling out any bloody paperwork –” Lucifer snarled, but the nurse wasn’t intimidated by him. Working in an LA ER seemed to have taken a lot of the fear out of her, and she crossed her arms over her chest and raised a single, imperious eyebrow at him.</p><p>“Sir. The medical team need to work on stabilizing your friend, and they can do that much easier without you peering over their shoulders. Someone needs to fill out her intake paperwork, and she didn’t look too capable when you brought her in. So, either you fill it out and let them work, or I’m gonna have to get security down here to escort you out of this ER.”</p><p>Lucifer could feel his fury rising up inside of him like a tidal wave approaching a beach, the anger cresting and burning as it pushed against the limits of his control.</p><p>That was when he heard the thump of running footsteps and Daniel skidded to a stop beside him, panting hard.</p><p>“Where’s Chloe?” he demanded.</p><p>“They’ve taken her back. This woman is preventing me from following,” Lucifer snarled.</p><p>“Someone has to fill out her intake paperwork,” the woman began, and Daniel dug his badge out, holding it towards the nurse.</p><p>“I’m with the LAPD. Bring the paperwork back and we’ll work on it back there, okay? We need to be with her. Please.”</p><p>The nurse’s lips tightened briefly, and then she sighed and walked over to the double doors the medical team had taken the Detective through, scanning her badge and tapping in a number before gesturing for them to go through.</p><p>It wasn’t hard to find the Detective. She was in the make-shift room partitioned off with sliding curtains that had the most frantic activity in it. The tiny area was too full for either he or Daniel to approach the bed the Detective lay in, so they stood back and watched in silence as the professionals tried to save her life.</p><p>Lucifer had always hated feeling useless. Watching the medical personnel buzzing around the Detective like bees around a hive while he stood against a wall unable to do anything productive made him want to tear something apart. Or some<em>one</em>.</p><p>He turned on Daniel, baring his teeth in a furious snarl.</p><p>“<em>Why?</em>” The word came out a hiss of air, barely loud enough for Daniel to hear despite standing right next to the Devil who was hissing it.</p><p>“A priest came to the precinct looking for Chloe. Father Kinley. He said…he said that you were the Devil and that he needed to send you back to Hell. I…I didn’t really believe him, but I didn’t really think he was totally crazy either, you know?”</p><p>“Because I <em>am</em> the Devil!” Lucifer snapped, fury pounding in his head with every too-fast beat of his heart.</p><p>“You keep saying that, but…” Daniel trailed off, his eyes ticking towards Lucifer’s shoulders. No, Lucifer realized, <em>over</em> his shoulders, to where his wings materialized when he pulled them into the mortal world.</p><p>“Perhaps you should start believing it,” Lucifer suggested.</p><p>“Okay, I…I can see that you aren’t…I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you aren’t human. But <em>the Devil?</em> C’mon, man,” Daniel said, shrugging the words off as he always did.</p><p>“Daniel, you are alarmingly blind to the truth,” Lucifer sighed, rubbing a hand over his forehead for a second. “I literally showed you my wings, for Dad’s sake, and you’re still trying to act like I must be joking when I tell you I’m the Devil.”</p><p>“Look, man, I can’t deny that I saw something weird in the garage…so, maybe you’re like, a mutant –”</p><p>“Are you trying to compare me to some comic book character?” Lucifer asked, unable to keep the amusement out of his voice.</p><p>“It makes as much sense as anything else I can come up with! It’s obvious you aren’t human, but it’s pretty arrogant to say that you’re <em>the</em> Devil, you know?”</p><p>“Not when it’s true,” Lucifer muttered, but he raised a hand to cut Daniel off before the man could argue again. “This is pointless. Tell me about Father Kinley.”</p><p>Daniel’s face fell and he looked back over at the Detective, catching glimpses of her between the medical staff still crowding around the bed. He crossed his arms over his chest, heaving a sharp breath as he looked away from her, staring down at the tiles on the bit of floor between him and Lucifer. “He’d talked to Chloe. I’d seen them talking at her desk. I didn’t believe his whole good-versus-evil story, but Kinley said he had something that would knock you out so that he could perform an exorcism and send you back to Hell. I thought maybe it was just a roofie or something. I thought that if you ended up unconscious with some crazy priest waterboarding you with holy water, it would be…I don’t know, fair compensation after Charlotte.”</p><p>“How many times do I have to say this, Daniel: Charlotte Richards was <em>not</em> my fault. It was <em>entirely</em> Pierce’s fault that she was shot. I had nothing to do with it!”</p><p>“But you didn’t warn anyone so that maybe we could be on guard!” Daniel shot back, his own face twisting with sudden fury as he turned on Lucifer, neither of them watching the movements of the medical team working frantically around Chloe now.</p><p>“Charlotte was investigating him; she was aware. And it didn’t save her life. Why do you think a warning from me would’ve made any difference at all?”</p><p>Daniel seemed to almost deflate, his shoulders drooping and his head falling forward, the fury melting off his face. “Because…because if I can’t blame you, then I have to blame her. And I can’t, man. I…I can’t.”</p><p>Lucifer looked over at Chloe, pale and unmoving with a heart monitor showing the uneven pace of her heart and an IV dripping clear fluid into her veins as medical staff drew blood and began setting up a machine to pump her stomach contents out.</p><p>“I understand,” Lucifer whispered. “You say the Detective knew this priest?”</p><p>“He’d been by to talk to her a few times, yeah. That’s why I thought…I thought he was okay.” Daniel’s voice shook as he glanced over at the Detective before looking away again, his face twisting with grief and guilt.</p><p>“Then perhaps this is all her fault, hmm? She was aware that this priest had been sniffing around with ill intent. Shouldn’t she have been able to predict that he might turn dangerous?”</p><p> “No!” Daniel snapped, his face going stony as he looked back up to meet Lucifer’s eyes. “How the hell could she have predicted that?”</p><p>“How could Charlotte have predicted Pierce might shoot her?”</p><p>Daniel’s face went blank, and he slumped back against the wall, his mouth hanging slightly open in shock as his eyes went unfocused.</p><p>Lucifer’s voice softened slightly. “There was no way for her to predict it. She is blameless…and so am I. The only one to blame is Pierce, and he is dead and suffering his just rewards in Hell.” Lucifer glanced at the Detective briefly, making sure the monitor still showed her heart beating in little bumps and dips of a green line across the screen, and then turned back to Daniel, is voice growing harsh once more. “Now I’d like to see the same thing happen to this priest. Father Kinley, you said?”</p><p>“Hey, no. Stop. You can’t <em>kill</em> him, Lucifer.” Daniel reached out to grab Lucifer’s shirt sleeve and Lucifer looked down, baring his teeth in fury. Daniel pulled his hand back quickly, but stepped a little closer, despite Lucifer’s obvious fury. “This is my fault. I’m going to make sure Kinley pays, but through legal channels. I’m…I’m gonna have Ella test the poison he gave me, confirm it’s the same stuff that’s been killing priests. We’ll have him in a jail cell before morning.”</p><p>“Good,” Lucifer said, his voice dark and rough. “I would <em>love</em> to have a few words with him once you’ve secured him.”</p><p>Daniel looked like he wanted to argue, but he shook his head, stepping away slightly to pull his phone from a pocket and call Ella. The conversation was brief, and he hung up only a few minutes later.</p><p>“She’s on her way,” he said, and then the two of them stood in silence, watching the doctors working frantically on Chloe, trying to stabilize her heart and support her body as it fought to stay alive.</p><p>Ella arrived not long after the medical team finally stopped buzzing around the Detective, leaving the machines to monitor her and a nurse checking in every few minutes to adjust her IV or write something down on a paper chart. Ella’s eyes were red and swollen, her cheeks damp, and she bagged the tiny phial of poison in silence when Lucifer offered it to her.</p><p>“It will have my fingerprints on it,” Lucifer said. “And Daniel’s.”</p><p>Ella’s eyes jumped between the two of them for a second before she nodded. She paused briefly at the foot of the hospital bed, reaching out to rest one hand on Chloe’s toes under the sheet. Ella’s face twisted in pain and she turned away without saying goodbye, clutching the evidence bag in one hand as she hurried from the ER.</p><p>The hours went by with interminable slowness. It was very like being back in Hell, where time seemed to stretch as thin as a wire ready to snap apart. Lucifer stood, a silent guard, until he realized his legs were going numb. He began shifting cautiously from foot to foot and Daniel glanced at him. After a second, Daniel left the curtained ‘room’ that Chloe was currently in, returning a second later with two plastic chairs.</p><p>Lucifer wanted to sneer at the hideous piece of offered furniture, but he was so weary and aching from his watchfulness that he sat down without a word, slumping forward over his legs, forearms braced on his knees and head hanging limply. He was listening to the soft susurration of the Detective’s breaths, the uneven beeps of her heartbeats on the monitor. He was waiting.</p><p>The curtain around the area opened a little later and Lucifer glanced up, expecting the same nurse that had checked on the Detective several times over the long night. Instead, a doctor stepped in, moving over to check the monitors. She nodded slightly before turning to Dan and Lucifer.</p><p>“All right, we’ve got her stable enough that we’re moving her to the ICU,” she explained. “We need the space in the ER, and they’ll be better able to take care of her up there. I’m curious, though: how did she ingest this poison? The lab results are showing something I’ve never seen before, similar to aconite but not the same.”</p><p>“It was in her drink,” Daniel said quickly. “Someone…someone must’ve spiked her drink. But she only took a small sip before…before she realized something wasn’t right.”</p><p>“She’s very lucky she only drank a sip,” the doctor said, raising her brows slightly. “Any more and she probably would be dead now. As it is, we’re doing everything we can to stabilize her while her body processes the poison she ingested before we pumped her stomach. It’s just a waiting game now, gentlemen.”</p><p>“Thank you,” Daniel said politely, but Lucifer couldn’t say anything at all. The desire to tear things apart was rising up in him again, filling his head like thousands of buzzing wasps, and he fought to get his emotions under control. From the bed, the Detective made a small, distressed sound. The fury bled away instantly, replaced by hope as Lucifer moved to her side, lifting her limp hand from the bed and rubbing his thumb gently over her knuckles.</p><p>“Detective?”</p><p>Dan moved to the foot of the bed but he kept his hands to himself, fists clenching and unclenching at his sides as he looked between the Detective and the doctor, who also approached, peeling open one eyelid to shine a light into the Detective’s eye before repeating the procedure with the other eye. She stared intently at the Detective’s passive face before she stepped back from the bed.</p><p>“She’s not waking up,” the doctor finally said, shaking her head. “I’m not sure what caused that.”</p><p>Lucifer felt fairly certain he knew, though. He would have to clamp down on his emotions until she was fully recovered. He didn’t think he could stop himself entirely from <em>feeling</em>…not when he was this helpless to do anything for the Detective. But he <em>could</em> stop the bleed-over onto her, as long as he focused on holding his emotions tightly to himself. It was the least he could do for her.</p><p>Lucifer took a long, slow breath, thumb stroking over her knuckles again. He stood beside the bed, silent and watchful, until the nurses came to move her upstairs to the ICU a few minutes later.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Lucifer experienced the next few days in the strangest state he’d ever experienced. Time seemed to move in a slow, unchangeable dragging pace that was maddening. Then, with no warning, it would seem to leap forward suddenly, leaving him wondering what had happened.</p><p>Ella got back to them after the first full day in the ICU with confirmation that the poison ingested by the Detective was the devilsbane that had been killing priests, and Daniel left Chloe’s bedside to try and locate Father Kinley. That was one of those jumps in time that left Lucifer feeling at loose moorings; one second, Daniel was explaining that he was going to arrest Kinley, holding his phone up to show Lucifer a digital warrant from a judge, and the next moment Lucifer’s phone was ringing as Daniel explained that Kinley was in the wind, obviously running and hiding now that his machinations had gone so completely pear shaped.</p><p>Daniel promised to find Kinley, but it was unimportant at the moment. What mattered right then was whether or not the Detective was going to stabilize and wake up.</p><p>Daniel had brought his and the Detective’s small offspring in twice, Trixie trying to curl up beside her mother despite all the wires and monitoring equipment. Lucifer had been forced into the hallway by the strict two-people-only rule for visitors in the ICU, and he stared in at the tableau with a sickened feeling of uselessness. He could not return the Detective to her offspring. He could not find the human responsible for putting her in this position. He couldn’t do anything, except wait in this unchanging misery that reminded him starkly of a few Hell loops he’d overseen as his tenure as King of Hell.</p><p>Every now and again during the eternal wait in the Detective’s ICU room, some alarm or other would go off and a medical team would rush into the room, pushing him out into the hallway no matter how hard he petitioned to be allowed to stay. No Devil powers would keep him in there when those horrible machines were blaring, though, and he was forced out and away to pace and wait until someone found him and explained the Detective had been stabilized again.</p><p>He went back to his penthouse only to shower and change clothes, and only when Maze was able to come up to guard the Detective, since he didn’t trust Daniel to keep her safe if Lucifer himself couldn’t be there.</p><p>Maze had returned from her hunt with Eve in tow as soon as Lucifer had called to tell her what had happened. Maze had volunteered her services in trying to track down Kinley, but was finding her efforts as stymied as that of the police force. Wherever Father Kinley had gone to ground, he had gone completely and was showing neither hide nor hair to allow the hunters to find him.</p><p>Maze had confessed that she appreciated him asking her to watch the Detective occasionally since it allowed Eve to sleep. The woman was, surprisingly, almost as determined as Maze to find Kinley. She had spent hardly any time with the Detective, but she seemed offended that anyone would hurt the Detective and horrified that the effort had been meant for Lucifer. Under Maze’s tutelage, she’d become a damned good tracker herself – at least, that was what Maze had told him, and he was inclined to believe the demon’s assessment, although he thought perhaps Maze was fonder of Eve than she was admitting.</p><p>Another day, he would have been interested in pursuing the gossip there, especially as it might pertain to Eve’s obsession with him…but he couldn’t be bothered just now. He had to watch over the Detective; that was the only thing that mattered now. Until Kinley was found, he would ensure the Detective could not be hurt again.</p><p>Lucifer had returned from one of his infrequent trips back to his penthouse to find Maze silent and unmoving, standing with her back braced against one wall of the Detective’s ICU room, twirling the knives she’d brought with her from Hell, her dark eyes focused on nothing. As soon as he opened the door, her eyes shot to him and she pushed off the wall.</p><p>“I’m going back out,” she said shortly, giving a quick nod over her shoulder towards the unmoving Detective on the bed. “No change.”</p><p>“Yes,” Lucifer said, the word soft and empty of anything. Maze stared at him for a few seconds, obviously struggling to find something to say, but settled for shaking her head, holding her knives in a white-knuckled grip, and storming from the room with purpose in every step.</p><p>Lucifer settled into the single chair in the room, pushed against a wall to be out of the way, and sighed heavily as he dropped his head forward into his hands, bracing his elbows on his knees. He was unsure when he had last eaten anything solid, and his flask emptied alarmingly quickly given how rarely he was able to go back to his penthouse to refill it. Hospital coffee and vending machine food were not even slightly tempting.</p><p>He sat like that for a long time, the moments stretching into an eternity as he rested with his eyes shut, listening to the Detective’s slow breaths and the steadying beat of her heart on the monitor. He barely noticed the sound of the door opening, an expected part of this almost-Hell-loop experience. Another nurse or doctor coming in to check if the Detective was still stable and still refusing to move on to her final reward in the Silver City.</p><p>It wasn’t until the person who’d entered spoke to him that he realized things were not as he’d assumed.</p><p>“She was an innocent. It was meant to be you. I’ve been trying to find you for days, but its surprisingly difficult to locate a monster that spends all of his time in one hospital room.”</p><p>The voice was unfamiliar, not one of the nurses or doctors he’d seen over the last few days, and Lucifer raised his head slowly, his attention sharpening on the stranger standing in the Detective’s hospital room. The man was tall and bald with a neatly trimmed salt-and-pepper beard. He was dressed in all black except for the white strip in his collar that marked him as a man of the cloth, and Lucifer felt a sharp smile stretching his lips, exposing his teeth as he slowly straightened up in his chair.</p><p>“Father Kinley, I presume.”</p><p>The man was still looking at the Detective, his face sorrowful. “I came to her for help, but she had been taken in by you and she denied me, much like Peter in the Bible. I could not save her…but I would not have wished this on her. She was not deserving of such a terrible tragedy.”</p><p>“And the priests you tried your poison out on? Were they likewise undeserving?” Lucifer asked, his upper lip twisting in disgust as he rose from his chair to face Kinley.</p><p>“No,” Kinley said with a little huff of laughter, looking away from the Detective to meet Lucifer’s furious gaze. “They had lost their faith, fallen from the path. It was just and right that I used them for experimenting on to ensure the proper dosage for maximum suffering for the Devil while still ensuring the devilsbane would do its intended job of immobilizing you for exorcism.”</p><p>Lucifer rose to his feet, his smile now a snarl. “You can’t <em>exorcise</em> me. This isn’t some human shell I’ve borrowed; this is <em>my body.</em>”</p><p>“No matter,” Kinley said, turning to face Lucifer fully. He was blocking the door, but Lucifer had no desire to leave the room. If necessary, he would throw Father Kinley <em>through</em> the door to get him away from the Detective. “It can still be effective at immobilizing you until I can send you back to Hell.”</p><p>Lucifer scoffed, his head tilting back slightly in amusement. “If you think I’m going to drink <em>anything</em> you offer me, you –”</p><p>Kinley moved suddenly, one hand rising sharply to fling something at Lucifer’s face. Lucifer couldn’t dodge, but he brought one arm up fast enough to keep whatever Kinley had thrown from hitting him in the face. Liquid splashed against the back of his hand and wrist. He lowered his arm and looked with surprise at the back of his hand where a clear, viscous liquid dripped thickly from the skin to patter on the tile below. A second later, his hand began to tingle and then to burn.</p><p>“Devilsbane?” Lucifer whispered,</p><p>“A very concentrated batch,” Kinley confirmed. “You <em>must</em> be sent back to Hell. There is a prophecy –”</p><p>“You <em>idiot</em>,” Lucifer snarled as the burning on his hand intensified to uncomfortable levels. “If you think throwing devilsbane at me will stun me –”</p><p>And then Kinley tackled him, ramming his back into the wall. Lucifer’s anger flared as bright as a star, and he let out an angry roar as he impacted with the drywall. Something clicked tight around one of his wrists, biting into his skin, and it took Lucifer only a second to realize that Kinley was putting something on him while he had Lucifer pinned to the wall.</p><p>Kinley held the advantage for only a moment. No matter how fanatical his determination to bring Lucifer down might be, he was only human. Lucifer flung his arms out, shoving Kinley back, whatever Kinley had managed to get onto one of his wrists swinging violently from that arm like a flashing metal pendulum. Lucifer didn’t use his full strength, meaning only to get the man off of him, but Kinley stumbled backwards, knocked off-balance by Lucifer’s sudden thrust. He rammed into the side of the Detective’s bed, half falling onto the unconscious woman.</p><p>Lucifer’s anger flared even brighter, the fury like a fire sliding through his veins, his heaving breaths coming out in snarls as he moved forward to drag the poisonous priest off of his Detective. With a small push of his will, he brought his Devil face forward, Kinley’s eyes going huge as he took in the monstrous form before him. Lucifer bared his teeth and took the three steps that would bring him to the edge of the hospital bed, but his rage turned to surprise as a slimly muscled arm suddenly snaked out from behind the priest to wrap around his upper chest, almost around his neck, pinning him to the edge of the hospital bed and preventing him from standing up again.</p><p>Lucifer stepped forward quickly and his eyes met Chloe’s over the priest’s shoulder, her face full of confusion and determination in equal measures. She was not sure what was happening or where she was, but she had felt his anger and had made a snap decision about who must be the perpetrator in this situation.</p><p>“Detective!” he cried out, joy bubbling up in him like the most expensive champagne, filling him with ecstasy as he saw a faint smile tip up one corner of her mouth. Her blue eyes were on his face – his <em>Devil</em> face – and she was <em>smiling</em>. He let the Devil face melt away, his angelic guise once more in place, but Chloe’s expression didn’t change at all, the same warm smile softening her face.</p><p>He reached down to his imprisoned wrist, unsurprised to find what Father Kinley had been attempting to bind him with were the handcuffs of Saint Elmo that he had identified in one of the previous killings. The markings on the inside of the cuff around the wrist that had been chemically burned with devilsbane felt like they were digging into his skin, leaving an impression on his flesh. He tightened his free hand on the locking mechanism, pressing down until the metal cracked and the cuff fell off of him and to the tiles of the hospital floor.</p><p>Both hands once more freed, he reached out, grabbing the priest by his shirtfront and dragging him off the Detective, holding tight to prevent the man from weaseling away again.</p><p>“You’re awake,” he said, speaking over Kinley’s shoulder.</p><p>“Obviously,” the Detective whispered, her voice hoarse and scratchy from disuse.</p><p>The door to the room burst open at that moment, and Lucifer turned to look at the face of a distressed nurse. Lucifer was familiar with the man, having seen him caring for the Detective over the last few days, and the man glanced from Lucifer with a captive priest in his hands to the woman lying on the bed and blinking slowly as she adjusted to being awake once again.</p><p>“Security,” Lucifer said. “Call security. This is the man who poisoned the Detective.”</p><p>The nurse’s mouth dropped open for a second in stunned silence before he dashed from the room to carry out Lucifer’s order.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I'll be posting the final chapter tomorrow to prevent a multi-day wait for the wrapup of the story, so don't forget to check back on Saturday morning!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Soulmates</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Are you quite sure you’re up to this?” Lucifer asked as he hovered beside Chloe. She rolled her eyes Heavenward, sighing. This was the third time he’d asked that in the last fifteen minutes, and while she appreciated the concern – which she could feel pouring through the bond between them in pulses that increased every time she made any big movements or reached for anything more than a foot away from herself – she was beginning to get a little annoyed.</p>
<p>“Lucifer. They’ve cleared me to go home. I don’t need to be hospitalized anymore. It’s been weeks since I was in the ICU, all right? I’m <em>fine</em>. Beside that, I’m sick of being here – no pun intended,” Chloe added, grinning slightly.</p>
<p>Lucifer gave a small huff of laughter, but the concern pouring off of him didn’t lessen.</p>
<p>“Stop worrying, Lucifer,” Trixie piped up from the bed where she was comfortably collapsed back against her mother’s pillows, playing a game on the Nintendo Switch Dan had recently purchased for her. “The doctors wouldn’t let Mom go home if she wasn’t all better!”</p>
<p>“That’s right, Monkey,” Chloe said, withholding the truth: she was definitely much better, but still weaker and much shakier than she’d been before being poisoned. She imagined it would be a long time before she was fully recovered, but she was well enough that she could finish recuperating at home rather than in a hospital bed, and she was very ready for life to get back to normal.</p>
<p>“And I’m meant to be reassured by the expert opinion of a six-year-old?” Lucifer asked, the dismissal in his tone obvious.</p>
<p>“I’m <em>eleven</em>,” Trixie said in a long-suffering tone Chloe recognized well from her own exasperated dealings with Lucifer. She bit down on a laugh, turning it into a soft cough to disguise it. Lucifer was instantly beside her, one hand under her elbow as he turned her gently.</p>
<p>“Detective? Should I get the nurse?”</p>
<p>“No,” Chloe said quickly, shoving the last of her personal items into the messenger bag Dan had brought from her apartment for her. “I’m fine, I promise. As soon as Dan comes back with the discharge paperwork, we are blowing this popsicle stand.”</p>
<p>Trixie giggled softly, not looking up from her game, and Lucifer gave Chloe a doubtful look. She reached out, stroking one hand very gently across the edge of his jaw, a small personal touch that she had been allowing herself more and more over the last few weeks as she adjusted to the near-constant presence of the Devil by her bedside. He seemed to relax under the soft touch, the tightness at the corners of his eyes melting away. His dark gaze met hers and she felt the push of concern from him turning slowly to contentment.</p>
<p>She slid her other hand into his, the pad of her thumb stroking gently over the back of the hand. She could feel the faint texture difference on the skin there, and she stepped back a bit, keeping hold of his hand as she lifted it between them. She stared at it, taking in the faint pale scar tissue that looked almost splashed there. She’d noticed the reddened area a few days after returning to consciousness but it hadn’t occurred to her to ask him about it. However, it was a scar now, so faint as to be nearly impossible to see. She could feel it, though, the smoothness of it under her stroking thumb different to the rest of the skin on his hand.</p>
<p>“Lucifer? What is this?” She kept her voice soft, and Lucifer glanced down, frowning slightly. She could feel the rush of consternation before he locked down on the emotion and her brows furrowed down. “Lucifer?”</p>
<p>“It…the night Kinley came to your room at the ICU, he…he attacked me. He threw concentrated devilsbane on me.”</p>
<p>“<em>On</em> you?” Chloe repeated, eyebrows shooting up. “Could that have hurt you, really?”</p>
<p>“I think he intended it to distract me while he put the handcuffs of St. Elmo on me. If I understand the mythology of them correctly, once both cuffs are locked onto the intended evildoer, they are rendered helpless.”</p>
<p>Alarm shot through Chloe and her shoulders tightened.</p>
<p>“It’s only a story,” Lucifer hastened to reassure her. “Honestly, I don’t know that the devilsbane would have left a scar if I hadn’t spent the last few weeks at your bedside.”</p>
<p>“Oh,” Chloe whispered, guilt flashing through her as her eyes ticked down to the back of his hand again.</p>
<p>“Detective.” Lucifer’s hand turned in hers, his other joining to wrap around her hand and squeeze it lightly. “Like all the scars I’ve earned at your side, I will wear it without regret. I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be than next to you.”</p>
<p>Chloe could feel a blush rising up in her cheeks and she met Lucifer’s eyes, feeling the warmth of his feelings pulsing like a heartbeat in her mind, warming her with their intensity.</p>
<p>The sound of the door opening made everyone look up as Dan walked in, waving a handful of printer paper. “Here we are, Chlo: your walking papers.”</p>
<p>“Thank God,” Chloe muttered, reaching out to take the paperwork and shove it carelessly into the messenger bag on the bed along with all her other possessions.</p>
<p>“Let’s leave Dad out of this, please,” Lucifer muttered, and Chloe slanted a quick look at him, grinning faintly.</p>
<p>Dan was still standing by the door to the room, looking uncomfortable, and he shuffled from foot to foot at Lucifer’s words, crossing his arms over his chest as he looked away. He’d been pretty on edge ever since the poisoning, despite the fact that Chloe had forgiven him almost as soon as he’d apologized, which had happened within an hour of her waking up. He’d explained everything: Father Kinley’s promise to take Lucifer out of the equation, Dan’s desire to see Lucifer get what he deserved and his expectation that the liquid in the bottle Kinley had given him would make Lucifer sick but wasn’t really dangerous. He didn’t try to excuse what he had done, but he did want Chloe to understand how he could’ve made such a potentially lethal mistake.</p>
<p>She couldn’t pretend to understand what he was going through with the loss of Charlotte, but she knew that hurting her had <em>never</em> been on his agenda. She wanted to believe that he would’ve come to his senses and stopped Lucifer from drinking the devilsbane, but she understood Dan was still very much in a bad place from Charlotte’s death. He was hurting, and she knew from experience that hurting people inevitably hurt other people.</p>
<p>She didn’t blame Dan for what had happened to her. She blamed Kinley, and she was delighted every time she thought of him in jail, exactly where he belonged.</p>
<p>She hefted the messenger bag, sliding the strap over her head to rest it across her body, the heavy bag falling against her hip as she moved over to Dan’s side, reaching out to squeeze his hand lightly. “Hey. It’s okay, Dan. It all turned out okay.”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Dan agreed, his voice and smile as brittle as glass. “Yeah, I know.”</p>
<p>He knew, but it didn’t matter. Chloe knew it was going to take time for him to recover from this. Perhaps she should suggest he try some therapy? It had helped Lucifer…somewhat.</p>
<p>“Are we leaving?” Trixie asked, bouncing off the bed and shutting off her Switch. “Are we still going to go to lunch?”</p>
<p>“Of course, Monkey,” Chloe said, reaching out to hug her daughter to her side.</p>
<p>“Daddy, you’re coming, too, right?” Trixie prompted, obviously expecting an easy ‘yes,’ but Dan hesitated.</p>
<p>“I have some work,” he began, but Chloe jumped in.</p>
<p>“That can wait until after lunch with your daughter, right, Dan?”</p>
<p>He glanced up at her and she widened her eyes slightly, tipping her head towards Trixie, who was looking up at him with a pleading expression.</p>
<p>“Uh…sure. Lunch. Yeah, why not.” Dan ran a gentle hand over Trixie’s hair and the girl smiled in satisfaction before turning her attention to her next target.</p>
<p>“Lucifer, are you coming with us?”</p>
<p>“No,” he said quickly, smiling to take the sting out of the word. He met Chloe’s eyes, the smile becoming warmer. “I’ve neglected Lux these last few weeks; I suppose I should put in a few hours of concentrated effort.”</p>
<p>“Of course,” Chloe said, giving Trixie another little squeeze. “He has to keep an eye on Lux, sweetie, or else it’ll fall apart.”</p>
<p>Lucifer gave a soft snort of laughter, but Trixie looked unconvinced. Chloe had to admit that she would’ve liked to have Lucifer join them for lunch. She’d gotten so used to him being around the last few days that it was going to be hard to be suddenly parted from him.</p>
<p>“Hey,” Chloe said, feeling abruptly brave. “Would it be okay if I stopped by your penthouse later this evening?”</p>
<p>“Of course,” Lucifer agreed, surprise on his face and bleeding through their emotional connection. “I’ll even feed you, if you’d like.”</p>
<p>Chloe hesitated, but then she smiled gently as she met Lucifer’s dark eyes and held them. “Dinner would be great.”</p>
<p>“Oh. <em>Oh</em>,” Lucifer said, realization dawning in his eyes as her words sunk in. “Right. Of course, Detective. I can have everything ready for you by…seven?”</p>
<p>“Perfect,” Chloe agreed, and then shifted her focus back to her daughter. “Okay, Monkey, where are we eating?”</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>“Welcome back. Did they finally send Chloe home?”</p>
<p>Lucifer was unsurprised to see Maze lounging behind the Lux bar, a place that had once been her domain before bounty hunting duties became her new passion. She was pouring drinks for herself and Eve, who was perched on a barstool and smiling widely as he approached.</p>
<p>“The doctors seem to think she’s ready to resume life as usual, though I wonder if they know as much as they like to pretend that they do,” Lucifer said, stopping at the edge of the bar.</p>
<p>“Experts,” Maze scoffed. “The experts also say that Linda’s pregnancy is completely normal and healthy, but I’m going to keep an eye on her to ensure that it stays that way.”</p>
<p>“<em>We </em>are,” Eve corrected quickly. “Linda is our…our…what did you say, Maze?”</p>
<p>“Our part-time job,” Maze said. “Although we aren’t getting paid for it. Still, someone needs to make sure she isn’t being hurt when she’s out grocery shopping or listening to all those mewling clients. When we aren’t catching bounties, that can be us.”</p>
<p>“Ah,” Lucifer said, unable to hide his amusement. “And the good doctor agreed to this stalking, did she?”</p>
<p>“I mean, she didn’t say <em>no,</em>” Maze said, shrugging negligently before tossing back her drink.</p>
<p>“Maze didn’t ask her,” Eve whispered, and Lucifer huffed a soft laugh.</p>
<p>“If I don’t ask permission, she can’t tell us no,” Maze pointed out logically, refilling her glass.</p>
<p>“And how is everything in the bounty business? Are you enjoying your new career?” Lucifer asked, giving Eve a curious look.</p>
<p>She hesitated, tapping her fingers lightly against the tumbler she held between her hands, her eyes gazing into the clear liquid. “I…I am, actually. I guess if things can’t go the way I had hoped they would, then this is a pretty good second choice.” Her wide eyes rose to meet Lucifer’s gaze, and while there was a flicker of longing in her expression, he no longer felt like he was being hunted by her.</p>
<p>“I’m glad you’re happy,” he said, his voice soft.</p>
<p>“I <em>am</em> happy,” she agreed, her smile widening briefly. She hesitated for a second before her smile slowly drifted away. “What about you, Luce? Are you happy?”</p>
<p>Lucifer opened his mouth, ready to brush her off with a quick reassurance, but then paused and considered the question.</p>
<p>“I’m getting there,” he allowed, and Eve’s smile in response was smaller than her previous smiles had been, a little sadder.</p>
<p>“That’s good,” she said. “I guess we’re all getting there in our own ways.”</p>
<p>“I’ve <em>been</em> there for a while,” Maze muttered into her glass.</p>
<p>“Hashtag blessed,” Lucifer said tartly before coming around the bar to join Maze. “If you’re going to be back here, you can at least help me with inventory. It should be old hat to you.”</p>
<p>Maze frowned, finished her drink, and then crouched to dig under the bar for the paperwork they needed.</p>
<p>“Can I help?” Eve asked hopefully, standing from her barstool.</p>
<p>“The more the merrier,” Lucifer said. “You can help Maze with the bottles while I mark them down. Come on, I’m on a bit of a tight schedule here.”</p>
<p>They settled in to work, Lucifer feeling a kind of cautious contentment rising slowly in him.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>The elevator doors opened on a penthouse lit only by candlelight. Chloe sucked in a breath, her eyes going wide as she took in what had to be hundreds of candles placed along the bar and on various surfaces in the room, including the top of Lucifer’s piano and lining the front edge of his desk. The entire room seemed golden and shimmering in the subtle, wavering light, and Chloe stepped into it slowly, hesitating to enter the penthouse fully. The elevator doors slid shut quietly behind her, but she still hadn’t moved more than a couple of steps into the main room, her eyes jumping from candle to candle as she took it all in.</p>
<p>“Detective?”</p>
<p>Lucifer’s voice came from his balcony, the doors open to the night beyond. A moment later he stepped into the living room, moving around the leather couches to come towards her.</p>
<p>“This is…wow,” Chloe said, gesturing around.</p>
<p>“I had hoped to get that reaction,” Lucifer said, his warm enjoyment of her stunned expression sliding subtly through her mind.</p>
<p>“It’s beautiful, Lucifer.”</p>
<p>He stepped up to her, reaching out slowly to rest his palm against the side of her face, tipping her chin up slightly. “It’s not the only thing.”</p>
<p>The kiss he gave her was meant to be soft and welcoming, but the touch of his lips made something in Chloe flare up with sudden impatience. For <em>years</em>, she had been holding herself back from this, resisting the pull towards Lucifer. In the last few months, the pull had been harder than ever to resist, and she was <em>tired</em> of fighting it.</p>
<p>She put herself into the kiss with a will, reaching up to rest her hands against Lucifer’s jaw, enjoying the soft prickle of his stubble against her palms and fingertips. She opened her mouth under his, deepening the kiss. She felt the sharp stab of his surprise in her mind before it melted into a warm wash of joy, excitement, giddiness, and willingness. The surge of multiple emotions drove her breath from her in a sharp exhale, and Lucifer’s arms went around her, supporting her as she sagged against him slightly, her hands sliding into his hair to grip the short strands lightly. His arms slid behind her, stroking lightly down the length of her back, his fingers dipping into the curve of her spine to trace the length of it from top to bottom and then back up again, the warmth of his palms bleeding through the thin material of her shirt.</p>
<p>The taste of his kiss filled her with breathless expectancy, his emotions twisting with hers in synchrony as they followed the same path of excitement and enjoyment, exploring one another with soft touches and hungry kisses.</p>
<p>He broke away a moment later, though, and Chloe blinked up at him in confusion.</p>
<p>“Are you sure?” he asked, his voice very soft.</p>
<p>“I really, really am,” she said, her own voice equally soft, but a smile warming the words. She glanced around the candlelit room, her eyes seizing on the paper sacks waiting on the coffee table in the living room. “Oh, but dinner…?”</p>
<p>“Will still be there later,” Lucifer promised, and returned to the very serious and engrossing business of kissing her.</p>
<p>He felt like he’d been waiting his entire existence for this moment, long before he even knew his Detective existed in the world. With each press of lips, each stroke of fingers on skin, each soft exhale, he knew that <em>this</em> was what he wanted from his life. It surprised him a little to feel the faintest niggle of uncertainty in the back of his mind, the emotion as subtle as the brush of butterfly wings under the rush of excitement and joy at having his Detective finally – <em>finally</em> – in his arms.</p>
<p>They moved in small increments towards the bedroom, their kisses and strokes leading them to lean against the bar, then the piano, one edge of a couch, and finally the wall outside his bedroom.</p>
<p>They broke apart briefly there, Chloe cupping Lucifer’s face in her hands, her thumbs stroking gently along his cheekbones as she looked into his heavy-lidded eyes, his kiss-swollen lips parted as he breathed unsteadily.</p>
<p>“Lucifer…I love you. I have for so long but…but I’m ready to say it now. I’m ready for you to know.”</p>
<p>She felt the surge of his elation and her own heart swelled in response.</p>
<p>“Detective,” he whispered, the word a rough caress. His arms were around her, his fingers making small circles against her lower back. “Chloe. You are the most important person, the most valuable being, I have ever known in all my existence. No one in Hell or Heaven or on Earth can match what you mean to me. I need you to know that.”</p>
<p>“I do,” she whispered, and she <em>did</em>. She could <em>feel</em> it, pulsing inside of her mind through the bond that connected him. “It’s what’s helping me get past my own nervousness about…about this.”</p>
<p>“Nervous…?” Lucifer laughed, realization flooding over him as he realized the hesitancy that he felt in the back of his mind wasn’t his; it was <em>hers</em>, the full bond finally beginning to slide into place.</p>
<p>“I mean, you’re <em>really</em> experienced,” she began, but he cut her off with a hungry, demanding kiss. The time for words was done. It was time for action. He would soothe her fears with the worship of her body, giving her what she needed to relax into this experience, pleasing her and himself with what they would share.</p>
<p>Clothing fell away effortlessly, the brush of fabric being replaced by the press of warm skin. Lucifer lowered Chloe onto the mattress of his bed gently, drinking in the sight of her reverently before she reached up to pull him down to join her.</p>
<p>As the passion between them grew, Lucifer felt the strength of his Detective’s emotions likewise growing in his mind. When he cupped her breast in his palm, he knew how much it affected her because he could feel the swell of her emotions in his mind. When he entered her, he nearly came apart as the surge of her pleasure and happiness filled his head almost to the point of bursting.</p>
<p>Quite some time later, they both lay sated in his bed, the sheets a tangled mess that somehow managed to mostly cover them as long as Chloe remained curled in the warmth of Lucifer’s arms, her lips resting against the thump of his pulse in his throat.</p>
<p>“You’re hungry,” he murmured.</p>
<p>“I was just thinking that,” she said, her lips brushing against the skin of his throat.</p>
<p>“I know,” he said, sounding inordinately pleased. “I can feel it.”</p>
<p>“You can…wait, you can <em>feel</em> it?” Chloe asked, leaning her head back slightly to look up into his face. “Are you saying you can feel my emotions now?”</p>
<p>“Mmm. What do you know about soulmates?”</p>
<p>Chloe’s mouth dropped open, and then she gave a snort of laughter, burying her face against his throat again. “Soulmates? You have <em>got</em> to be kidding me!”</p>
<p>“As Dad is my witness,” Lucifer said, throwing one muscled thigh over her hip to draw her even closer to him, enjoying the thrum of her satisfaction in his mind.</p>
<p>“What’s one more weird thing after the last few years?” Chloe muttered, dropping a soft kiss against his pulse. “I’m in it for the long haul, Lucifer. You and me.”</p>
<p>“Yes,” he agreed, pressing his own lips to her forehead, contentment radiating out of him and making her snuggle into the kiss, her arms tightening around him. “You and me.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Coda</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>…and that is the story of the boy and the girl. Despite all the struggles and all the difficulties they faced, eventually they found the strength to be what I’d always intended them to be for one another. He found his acceptance in the gift that I had given him, and she found in herself the will to be strong enough for the challenge that he was.</p>
<p>But there was never any doubt that it would turn out that way. I created them, of course, and I knew it all from the beginning. Still, isn’t it nice to see a happy ending now and again?</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you for reading this entire thing! I love reading comments, so thank you so much to everyone who commented along the way. </p>
<p>I am, yet again, working on another Deckerstar fic. I want to finish it before s5b drops, so I suppose it should be up in the next couple of months. Keep your eyes on this space, and I hope to see you in the next story!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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